Improved convolutions of digital signals using a bit requirement optimization of a target digital signal

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to improved convolutions of digital signals. When a first digital signal is convoluted with a second digital signal to obtain an output digital signal, to be converted afterwards using a limited number of bits. In order to prevent a loss of information, and therefore a degradation of the output digital signal upon the future conversion, at least one of the first and the second digital signal is formed of suitable values that store the information from the first digital signal within the most significant bits of the output digital signal.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of digital signal processing.More specifically, it relates to digital circuitry to apply transferfunctions, filter, and more generally modify input digital signal.

BACKGROUND PRIOR ART

Nowadays signals are commonly represented, used and modified in adigital form. It is for example the case of visual or image signals,which are usually represented in the form of digital matrixesrepresenting the amplitude of luminosity of pixels for one or more colorlayers, and for audio signals, which are usually represented, for one ormore audio channels, by a succession of temporal samples of amplitude ofan audio track on each audio channel.

In a large number of applications, digital signals can be modified. Thisis for example the case when one wishes to change the amplitude of anaudio signal, modify the luminosity or contrast of an image, or moregenerally perform a filter on a signal. Signal filtering can beperformed for a large number of applications, for example to perform adenoising, to adapt an audio signal to be listened to, or more generallyto apply any kind of effects on the signal.

In practice, the modification of a digital signal is usually performedby a convolution with another digital signal. The convolution consistsin multiplications and additions of values of the two signals over atime window to obtain a modified signal. The simplest case ofconvolution consists in simply multiplying the samples of an inputdigital signal by a single coefficient to apply a change of amplitude tothe input digital signal and thus obtain an amplified or attenuatedoutput digital signal.

In a number of other examples of filters, such as a denoising filter,low-pass filters, high-pass filters, etc. . . . a filter maytheoretically be applied on an input digital signal by convoluting theinput digital signal and a signal representative of the filter over atime window of infinite size. However, in most cases the convolution isrestricted to a window of finite size. A filter defined by multiplyingcoefficients over a window of finite size is called a Finite ImpulseResponse (FIR) filter. The application of such a filter on an impulse,or Dirac delta function, generates an output signal called impulseresponse of the filter, which is formed of samples whose amplitudes arerespectively equal to the coefficients of the filter.

A digital signal is formed of samples which are stored on a number ofbits, called bit depth of the signal. For example, an audio signalusually has a bit depth of 16 or 24 bits, while an image signal usuallyhas a bit depth comprised between 8 and 16 bits. When a filter,transform, transfer function, or convolution is applied to an inputdigital signal, the resulting output digital signal usually has a bitdepth higher than the bit depth of the input digital signal, in order topreserve as much information as possible from the input digital signal,and the transform. For example, the result of an attenuation of a 16 bitinput digital signal can be stored on 24, or even 32 bits, in order tohave as much precision as possible in the output digital signal.

The number of bits which are commonly used by computing capacities forcalculating operations is generally much higher than the number of bitswhich are used to store digital signals. For example, most processorsperform operations on 32 or 64 bits, while most audio signal have a bitdepth of 16, and most image signals a bit depth of 8. This property isused by digital signal processing systems, to obtain a precision as highas possible for filtering. For example, an attenuation of a signal isusually expressed in dB. A commonplace operation of audio processingconsists of applying a gain, expressed in dB, to audio signals. Thenumber of bits allowed by processing capabilities is widely used toobtain very precise values of amplitude change of an audio signal. In asimilar manner, when applying a FIR filter, a maximum number of bits isused, in order to obtain an impulse response of the FIR filter which isas close as possible to a theoretical/ideal impulse response.

However, such an output signal needs to be converted in order to besensed by a user. For example, the conversion of an audio output digitalsignal can be performed by a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) thatconverts the output digital signal to an analog signal to be listened tousing loudspeakers. An image output digital signal can be viewed forexample by activating pixels with level of luminosity defined by thevalues of samples of the output digital signal.

It shall be noted that such a conversion, to allow a user to sense theoutput digital signal, is itself performed using a defined number ofbits. For example, most audio DACs, although converting audio sampleshaving a bit depth up to 24 bits, actually convert an audio digitalsignal using a lower bit depth, for example 21 bits. Thus, when theaudio digital signal is converted to an audio analog signal to belistened to, the performances of such DACs correspond roughly to the 21most significant bits of the audio digital signal. This loss ofinformation induces a degradation of the audio signal, which may altersignificantly the quality of audio listening.

Similar degradation can occur when converting other types of digitalsignals, for example digital image signals, after the application oftransforms that increase the number of bits.

However, when applying a filer on a signal, such loss of informationcaused by the conversion of the digital signal may affect not only thesignal itself, but also the response of the filter.

There is therefore the need for a device which is able to performtransformations of a digital signal such as changes of amplitude orfiltering, while reducing the degradation perceived by a user of saiddigital signal upon a future conversion of said digital signal using alimited number of bits. There is also the need for a device which isable to perform transformations of a digital signal, while reducing thedegradation perceived by a user of the transformation, upon a futureconversion of said digital signal using a limited number of bits.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To this effect, the invention discloses a digital circuitry configuredto perform a convolution of an input digital signal and a digital signalrepresentative of a transform to obtain an output digital signal, atleast one of said input digital signal and said digital signalrepresentative of a transform comprising one or more samples obtained bya bit requirement optimization of a target digital signal.

Advantageously, the transform (St) is an oversampling of the inputdigital signal.

Advantageously, said bit requirement optimization comprises thedefinition of a value a sample of said at least one of said inputdigital signal and said digital signal representative of a transform asa division of a first integer number by two raised to the power of asecond integer number.

Advantageously, said second integer number is comprised between aminimum number (K) and a maximum number (K+D) and is equal to anincreasing function of the absolute value of a difference between theconversion of the sample to a representation using the minimum number ofbits.

Advantageously, said second integer number is comprised between aminimum number (K) and a maximum number (K+D) and is equal to anincreasing function of the absolute value of a difference between theconversion of the sample to a representation using the minimum number ofbits divided by the value of the sample.

Advantageously, said decreasing function defines a number of bits equalof below a maximum number of bits.

Advantageously, the decreasing function is a number of bits of precisionminus a binary logarithm of the absolute value of said absolute value ofthe target sample of the target digital signal.

Advantageously, the number of bits of precision is defined according toa target precision of the transform.

Advantageously, the value of the bit requirement optimization comprisesthe selection of the value of the sample among a set of suitable valuesbased on the target value of the target sample.

Advantageously, the number of bits of precision is equal to a ceiling ofa binary logarithm of a target number of suitable values in a rangehaving the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)].

Advantageously, the number of suitable values in a range having the form]½^(N+1); ½^(N)] is equal to 6 divided by an average target step betweentwo suitable values, in dB.

Advantageously, the set of suitable values is further defined by amaximum suitable value, and comprises: two raised to the power of thenumber of bits of precision values, respectively equal to: a firstinteger value from 1 to two raised to the power of the number of bits ofprecision divided by two raised to the power of the maximum number ofbits; for each range in a plurality of ranges defined by a secondinteger value comprised between a binary logarithm of said maximumsuitable value and the maximum number of bits minus one: two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision minus one values,respectively equal to: a first integer value from one plus two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision minus one to two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision divided by two raised tothe power of the second integer value.

Advantageously, said at least one of said an input digital signal and adigital signal representative of the transform comprises a plurality ofsamples; each sample is associated to a number of bits of precisiondepending of a precision required by said sample; the value of eachsample is selected among a discrete set of suitable values defined atleast by the number of bits of precision associated to said sample.

Advantageously, the digital signal representative of the transformcomprises a single sample, representative of a coefficient of amplitudechange to be applied to the input digital signal.

Advantageously, the digital circuitry is configured to: determine amaximum absolute value of said input digital signal on a time window;calculate a maximum coefficient of amplitude change based on saidmaximum absolute value and a predefined maximum coefficient ofsaturation; select the value of said single sample in said set ofsuitable values which is representative of a coefficient of amplitudechange below said maximum coefficient of amplitude change which is theclosest to a target coefficient of amplitude change.

Advantageously, the values of the one or more samples are selected amongthe suitable values according to target values of samples of the targetdigital signal and a rule of selection of suitable values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection selects the suitable values whichare the closest to the target values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection selects the suitable values basedon a combination of an error between target and suitable values, and anadditional number of bits required by suitable values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection first selects a candidate suitablevalue which is the closest to a target value; if the first integernumber for the candidate suitable value is an odd number, the rule ofselection selects, if it exists, a suitable value in the set of suitablevalues which is a neighbor of the candidate suitable value, and whosefirst integer number is a multiple of 4.

Advantageously, the rule of selection: adds a first suitable value whichis the closest to a target value to an empty list of candidate values;iteratively, for each candidate value added to the list of candidatevalues: defines the candidate value as a division of a first odd integernumber divided by two raised to the power of a second integer number;verifies if a first additional value equal the first odd integer numberplus one divided by two raised to the power of a second integer numberis within an error range around the target value; if it is, adds thefirst additional value to the list of candidate values; verifies if asecond additional value equal the first odd integer number minus onedivided by two raised to the power of a second integer number is withinan error range around the target value; if it is, adds the secondadditional value to the list of candidate values; selects the candidatevalue in the list of candidate values, which is defined as a first oddinteger number divided by two raised to the power of a second integernumber, said second integer number being the lowest among candidatevalues.

Advantageously, the input digital signal has an input bit depth, andsaid output digital signal has an output bit depth, higher than or equalto the input bit depth.

Advantageously, the values of samples of the digital signalrepresentative of the transform are integer values, said digitalcircuitry being configured to perform a full scale conversion of asample of the input digital signal into a converted sample having theoutput bit depth, and multiply the converted sample by one or moresamples of the digital signal representative of the transform.

Advantageously, the values of samples of the digital signalrepresentative of the transform are integer values equal to the value ofthe suitable coefficients multiplied by two raised to a power of thedifference between said output bit depth and said input bit depth, saiddigital circuitry being configured to perform a conversion of a sampleof the input digital signal into a converted sample having the outputbit depth, and multiply the converted sample by values of the samples ofthe digital signal representative of the transform.

The invention also discloses a device comprising: the digital circuitryof the invention; a connection to a digital-to-analog converter, saiddigital-to-analog converter being configured to convert said outputdigital signal to a digital output digital signal to an output analogsignal using a conversion accuracy comprised between said input bitdepth and said output bit depth.

Advantageously, the device further comprises a connection to one or moreattenuators or amplifiers to apply an amplitude change to the outputanalog signal using a fixed gain or a variable gain with a finite numberof possible values.

The invention also discloses a method of convolution of an input digitalsignal and a digital signal representative of a transform to obtain anoutput digital signal, at least one of said input digital signal andsaid digital signal representative of a transform comprising one or moresamples obtained by a bit requirement optimization of a target digitalsignal.

The invention also discloses a computer program comprising computer codeinstructions configured to perform a convolution of an input digitalsignal and a digital signal representative of a transform to obtain anoutput digital signal, at least one of said input digital signal andsaid digital signal representative of a transform comprising one or moresamples obtained by a bit requirement optimization of a target digitalsignal.

The invention also discloses a method of creation of a first digitalsignal to be convolved with a second digital signal, comprising a bitrequirement optimization of a target digital signal.

The invention also discloses a digital circuit configured to perform aconvolution of an input digital signal and a digital signalrepresentative of a transform to obtain an output digital signal, atleast one of said input digital signal and said digital signalrepresentative of a transform comprising one or more samples whosevalues belong to a discrete set of suitable values, wherein: saiddiscrete set of suitable values is defined at least by a decreasingfunction defining a number of bits as a function of the absolute valuesof said suitable values; suitable value is equal to a division of afirst integer number by two raised to the power of a second integernumber, said second integer number being equal to or below a ceiling ofthe application of the decreasing function to the absolute value of saidsuitable value.

Advantageously, said discrete set of suitable values is further definedby a maximum number of bits; each second integer number for eachsuitable coefficient is equal to or below said maximum number of bits.

Advantageously, the decreasing function is a number of bits of precisionminus a binary logarithm of the absolute value of said suitable value.

Advantageously, the number of bits of precision is defined according toa target precision of the transform.

Advantageously, the number of bits of precision is equal to a ceiling ofa binary logarithm of a target number of suitable values in a rangehaving the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)].

Advantageously, the number of suitable values in a range having the form]½^(N+1); ½^(N)] is equal to 6 divided by an average target step betweentwo suitable values, in dB.

Advantageously, the set of suitable value is further defined by amaximum suitable value, and comprises: two raised to the power of thenumber of bits of precision values, respectively equal to: a firstinteger value from 1 to two raised to the power of the number of bits ofprecision divided by two raised to the power of the maximum number ofbits; for each range in a plurality of ranges defined by a secondinteger value comprised between a binary logarithm of said maximumsuitable value and the maximum number of bits minus one: two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision minus one values,respectively equal to: a first integer value from one plus two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision minus one to two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision divided by two raised tothe power of the second integer value.

Advantageously, one of said an input digital signal and a digital signalrepresentative of the transform comprises a plurality of samples; eachsample is associated to a number of bits of precision depending of aprecision required by said sample; the value of each sample belongs to adiscrete set of suitable values defined at least by the number of bitsof precision associated to said sample.

Advantageously, the digital signal representative of the transformcomprises a single sample, representative of a coefficient of amplitudechange to be applied to the input digital signal.

Advantageously, the digital circuitry is configured to: determine amaximum absolute value of said input digital signal on a time window;calculate a maximum coefficient of amplitude change based on saidmaximum absolute value and a predefined maximum coefficient ofsaturation; select the value of said single sample in said set ofsuitable values which is representative of a coefficient of amplitudechange below said maximum coefficient of amplitude change which is theclosest to a target coefficient of amplitude change.

Advantageously, the values of the one or more samples are selected amongthe suitable values according to target values and a rule of selectionof suitable values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection selects the suitable values whichare the closest to the target values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection selects the suitable values basedon a combination of an error between target and suitable values, and anadditional number of bits required by suitable values.

Advantageously, the rule of selection first selects candidate suitablevalue which is the closest to a target value; if the first integernumber for the candidate suitable value is an odd number, the rule ofselection selects, if it exists, a suitable value in the set of suitablevalues which is a neighbor of the candidate suitable value, and whosefirst integer number is a multiple of 4.

Advantageously, the rule of selection: adds a first suitable value whichis the closest to a target value to an empty list of candidate values;iteratively, for each candidate value added to the list of candidatevalues: defines the candidate value as a division of a first odd integernumber divided by two raised to the power of a second integer number;verifies if a first additional value equal the first odd integer numberplus one divided by two raised to the power of a second integer numberis within an error range around the target value; if it is, adds thefirst additional value to the list of candidate values; verifies if asecond additional value equal the first odd integer number minus onedivided by two raised to the power of a second integer number is withinan error range around the target value; if it is, adds the secondadditional value to the list of candidate values; selects the candidatevalue in the list of candidate values, which is defined as a first oddinteger number divided by two raised to the power of a second integernumber, said second integer number being the lowest among candidatevalues.

Advantageously, the input digital signal has an input bit depth, andsaid output digital signal has an output bit depth, higher than or equalto the input bit depth.

Advantageously, the values of samples of the digital signalrepresentative of the transform are integer values, said digitalcircuitry being configured to perform a full scale conversion of asample of the input digital signal into a converted sample having theoutput bit depth, and multiply the converted sample by one or moresamples of the digital signal representative of the transform.

Advantageously, the values of samples of the digital signalrepresentative of the transform are integer values equal to the value ofthe suitable coefficients multiplied by two raised to a power of thedifference between said output bit depth and said input bit depth, saiddigital circuitry being configured to perform a conversion of a sampleof the input digital signal into a converted sample having the outputbit depth, and multiply the converted sample by values of the samples ofthe digital signal representative of the transform.

The invention also discloses a device comprising: a digital circuit ofthe invention; a connection to a digital-to-analog converter, saiddigital-to-analog converter being configured to convert said outputdigital signal to a digital output digital signal to an output analogsignal using a conversion accuracy comprised between said input bitdepth and said output bit depth.

Advantageously, the device comprises a connection to one or moreattenuators or amplifiers to apply an amplitude change to the outputanalog signal using a fixed gain or a variable gain with a finite numberof possible values.

The invention also discloses a method of convolution of an input digitalsignal and a digital signal representative of a transform to obtain anoutput digital signal, at least one of said input digital signal anddigital signal representative of a transform comprising one or moresamples whose values belong to a discrete set of suitable values,wherein: said discrete set of suitable values is defined at least by adecreasing function defining a number of bits as a function of theabsolute values of said suitable values; each suitable value is equal toa division of a first integer number by two raised to the power of asecond integer number, said second integer number being equal to orbelow a ceiling of the application of the decreasing function to theabsolute value of said suitable value.

The invention also discloses a computer program product comprisingcomputer code instructions configured to perform a convolution of aninput digital signal and a digital signal representative of a transformto obtain an output digital signal, at least one of said input digitalsignal and digital signal representative of a transform comprising oneor more samples whose values belong to a discrete set of suitablevalues, wherein: said discrete set of suitable values is defined atleast by a decreasing function defining a number of bits as a functionof the absolute values of said suitable values; each suitable value isequal to a division of a first integer number by two raised to the powerof a second integer number, said second integer number being equal to orbelow a ceiling of the application of the decreasing function to theabsolute value of said suitable value.

The invention also discloses a method of creation of a first digitalsignal to be convolved with a second digital signal, comprising:obtaining target values of samples the first digital signal; for eachtarget value of a sample, selecting a suitable value belonging to a setof suitable values, wherein: said discrete set of suitable values isdefined at least by a decreasing function defining a number of bits as afunction of the absolute values of said suitable values; each suitablevalue is equal to a division of a first integer number by two raised tothe power of a second integer number, said second integer number beingequal to or below a ceiling of the application of the decreasingfunction to the absolute value of said suitable value; setting the valueof the sample to the suitable value.

The invention greatly improves the perception by a user of a digitalsignal, and/or a transform thereof.

The invention is applicable to any system that performs a convolution oftwo digital signals, in order to improve the perception by a user of theresulting digital signal.

The invention can be tailored to provide a compromise between theimprovement of the perception of the user of one of the two digitalsignals that are being convolved, and the closeness of the second signalto a target digital signal.

The invention can be adapted to the numbers of bits of an input andoutput digital signal, and a number of bits for converting the outputdigital signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and its various features andadvantages will emerge from the following description of a number ofexemplary embodiments provided for illustration purposes only and itsappended figures in which:

FIGS. 1a and 1b display respectively two digital signals;

FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c display three examples of a device in a number ofembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 displays an example of a system for managing audio devices in acar in a number of embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 displays an example of a compressor device in a number ofembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 displays an example of an audio amplifier device in a number ofembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 displays an example of a high-fidelity processor in a number ofembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 displays an example of a mixer in a number of embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 8 displays a method to perform a convolution of two digital signalsin a number of embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 displays a method of creation of a first digital signal to beconvolved with a second digital signal according to the invention;

FIGS. 10a, 10b and 10c display respectively the frequency response of aprior art lowpass filter whose coefficients are quantized using 16 bits,the frequency response of a lowpass filter of the invention, and theimpulse response of a lowpass filter of the invention;

FIGS. 11a, 11b and 11c display respectively the frequency response of aprior art RIAA filter whose coefficients are quantized using 16 bits,the frequency response of a RIAA filter of the invention, and theimpulse response of a RIAA filter of the invention;

FIGS. 12a, 12b and 12c represent respectively the impulse responses of alow pass filter using 8-bits coefficients, 16-bits coefficients, and 8to 16 bits coefficients using a bit requirement optimization accordingto the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1a and 1b display respectively two digital signals.

FIG. 1a represents schematically a first digital signal S.

The signal S1 is defined by a plurality of successive temporal valuescalled samples, each sample having a value or amplitude. The signalitself, as a whole, has an amplitude which can refer in particular tothe difference between a maximum value and a minimum value (possiblynegative) exhibited by this signal, half this difference, or else anaverage of the absolute values of the values exhibited by this signal.

The first signal S1 exhibits a succession of samples defining theamplitude of the signal at successive times t1, t2, t3, t4, t5 . . . .The successive times can be sampled at different frequencies. Forexample, an audio signal can be sampled at 22050 Hz (22050 samples persecond), 24000 Hz, 44100 Hz, 48000 Hz, 88200 Hz, or 96000 Hz.

The first signal S1 is represented in digital form, so that each sampleat times t1, t2, t3, t4, t5 has a value or amplitude V1, V2, V3, V4, V5,. . . and is each equal to a discrete level ND. The number of discretelevels that may depends on the representation of each samples. A numberof different representations of the signal S1 are possible.

For example, the samples of the signal S1 can be represented using asigned 16 bits integer, that is to say using integer values ranging from−32 768 (−1×2¹⁵) to 32 767 (2¹⁵−1), respectively corresponding to anamplitude in a scale from −1 to 1 (1−2⁻¹⁵ exactly, since the highestvalue that can be obtained is equal to 2¹⁵−1/2¹⁵). Similarly, thesamples of the signal S1 can be represented using signed 24 bitsintegers, that is to say using integer values ranging from −8 388 608(−1×2²³) to 8 388 607 (2²³−1), respectively corresponding to anamplitude in a scale from −1 to 1 (1−2⁻²³ exactly, since the highestvalue that can be obtained is equal to 2²³−1/2²³). It can be generallyseen that the more bits are used to represent the signal, the moreprecision can be obtained in the amplitudes of said signal. The 16 bitssigned integer and 24 bits signed integer are respectively used torepresent audio signals in 16 bits and 24 bits PCM (Pulse CodeModulation).

The samples of the signal S1 can also be represented using unsignedintegers. For example, a representation using an unsigned 16 bitsinteger uses unsigned integer values from 0 to 65 535 (2¹⁶−1,corresponding to hexadecimal values from 0X0000 to 0xFFFF, wherein0x0000 corresponds to zero), and a representation using 24 bits integeruses unsigned integer values from 0 to 16 777 215 (2²⁴−1, correspondingto hexadecimal values from 0x000000 to 0XFFFFFF, wherein 0x000000corresponds to zero).

These examples are provided by means of example only, and the signal S1can be represented using unsigned or signed integer of any bit depth,provided that the bit depth used is sufficient to represent the signalwith the necessary precision. The signal S1 can also be representedusing discrete values which are not integers, for example floating pointvalues.

The signal may also be represented by a floating point representationcompliant with the IEEE 754 standard may be selected where anormalization step is applied to the exponent and the mantissa and therepresentation comprises an additional bit that is always equal to 1 andthus remains implicit.

The first signal S1 is here representative of a sound signal. The firstvalues V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, . . . can then be values of acousticoverpressure or under-pressure, or values of an electrical voltagerepresenting this sound signal, or else digital values, to which noparticular unit is attached, which are representative of this soundsignal.

As a variant, the first signal could also be representative of aluminous signal, of a radio-electrical signal, or be representative ofthe evolution in the course of time of the position of an object or ofany other quantity.

The FIG. 1b displays an example of a digital signal representative of animage. In such a signal, the values of the samples correspond to thevalue of a luminosity intensity of a pixel for a color layer. The pixelsare represented by their positions from a corner of the image, forexample the top-left corner.

In the example of FIG. 1 b, the image is formed of a single color layerwith a bit depth of 8 bits. Each value thus represents an intensity ofluminosity of a unique grayscale layer of the image, in a scale rangingfrom 0 (no luminosity—black) to 255 (2⁸, maximum luminosity—white). Inthe example of FIG. 1 b, the pixel 101 b has a value of 157 thatcorresponds to a medium grey, the pixel 102 b has a value of 206 thatcorresponds to a light grey, and the pixel 103 b has a value 6 thatcorresponds to a very dark grey.

This example is provided by way of example only. Many otherrepresentations of pixels of an image exist. For example, the values ofthe pixels can be stored using a different bit depth, for example 12 or16 bits. Similarly, the image can comprise more than one color layer.For example, the image can comprise 3 color layers corresponding to RGB(Red Green Blue) components of a color, 3 color layers corresponding toYCbCr (Luma, Chroma Blue, Chroma Red) components of an image or 4 colorlayers corresponding to CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow Key) colors of animage. In these cases, each pixel can comprise up to 3 or 4 valuescorresponding to the components of the image.

FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c display three examples of devices of the invention.

The FIG. 2a represents a first example of a device according to theinvention.

The device 200 a is configured to apply a transform to an input digitalsignal S1. The input digital signal S1 can be any digital signal,notably one of the digital signals discussed with reference to the FIGS.1a and 1 b. The input digital signal S1 is characterized by a samplingfrequency f₁ and an input bit depth n₁. In a number of embodiments ofthe invention, the sampling frequency and/or bit depth of the inputdigital signal may be variable over time. In such embodiments, the inputdigital signal S1 can be split into a succession of time windows,wherein the signal S1 has a constant sampling frequency and bit depth,and the invention can be applied separately on each time window.Similarly, the input digital signal may comprise a plurality of channels(for example, the left and right channels of a stereo audio file). Insuch cases, the invention can be applied in parallel to each channel.

In order to apply the transform, the device 200 a comprises a processinglogic 210 a configured to perform a convolution of the input digitalsignal S1, and a digital signal St representative of the transform, inorder to obtain a transformed output digital signal S2. In the course ofthis application the signal St will be generally referred to as the“transform signal”.

The operation of convolution can be performed for example bymultiplication and additions of the signals S1 and St, as explained by:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolution. In a number of embodiments ofthe invention, the convolution by St corresponds to the application of aFinite Impulse Response (FIR) filter to the input digital signal S1, asexplained for example inhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_response. In such cases,the value of each sample of St corresponds to a coefficient of a FIRfilter and, when the input digital signal S1 is a Dirac, the outputdigital signal S2 is the impulse response of the FIR filter, that is tosay each sample of S2 is equal to a sample of St, i.e. a coefficient ofthe FIR.

As will be discussed in more details below, the transform may be anykind of transform of the input digital signal S1. For example, thetransform may apply to the input digital signal S1 a filter such as alow-pass, high-pass, denoising filter, or any other kind of filter. In anumber of embodiments of the invention, the signal St comprises a singlesample, representative of a coefficient of amplitude change of the inputdigital signal S1. In such embodiments, the device 200 a is configuredto perform an attenuation or an amplification of the input digitalsignal S1.

In this application, a processing logic may be a processor operating inaccordance with software instructions, a hardware configuration of theprocessor, or a combination thereof. The processing logic may also be aspecific-purpose processing logic such as a DSP (Digital SignalProcessor) or a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). It should beunderstood that any or all of the functions discussed herein may beimplemented in a pure hardware implementation and/or by a processoroperating in accordance with software instructions and/or by a processoroperating in accordance with software instructions, and a configurationof a machine learning engine or neural network. A processing logic mayalso be a multi-core processor executing operations in parallel, aseries of processors, or a combination thereof. It should also beunderstood that any or all software instructions may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium. The term “configuration of aprocessing logic” refers to any means (for example hardwareconfiguration, software instructions, machine learning, training orneural network, or any other adaptation means or combination thereof) ofconfiguring a processing logic to execute operations. The processinglogic may also be referred to as “digital circuitry”.

The output digital signal S2 is further supplied to a Digital to AnalogConverter (DAC) 220 a, in order to be transformed into an analog digitalsignal S2′. The analog digital signal S2′ can be sensed directly orindirectly by a user or a further device. For example, if the signalsare audio signals, the analog output signal S2′ can be supplied toloudspeakers in order for the audio track to be listened to by a user.

In the embodiment displayed in FIG. 2a , the conversion is performedusing the external DAC 220 a, in order to obtain an analog output signalS2′. However, the invention is not restricted to this example. Forexample, the conversion may be performed using a DAC within the device200 a.

In other embodiments of the invention, the output digital signal canalso be converted into further digital output signal using a digitalconverter using a conversion having a bit depth lower than the bit depthof the output digital signal instead of being converted into a digitaloutput signal using the DAC 220 a. It is for example the case when anaudio signal is to be sent in digital form to an audio device using awireless transmission protocol. An example of such system is the AppleAirplay™ system, wherein to audio stream is typically transmitted indigital form using 16 bits samples at a frequency of 44.1 kHz. If theoutput digital signal S2 has a bit depth higher than 16 bits,information from the input digital signal S1 may be lost, for the samereason than when using DACs.

The signal St representative of the transform has a bit depth n_(t), andthe output digital signal an output bit depth n₂. The input digitalsignal S1, transform signal St and output digital signal S2 can bestored in order to perform the convolutions on memories of the device200 a according to their respective bit depths.

In an exemplary device to perform attenuations of an audio signal, theinput digital signal S1 has a bit depth of 16, the transform digitalsignal St comprises a single sample has a bit depth of 8, and the outputdigital signal has a bit depth of 23 or 24 bits (23 bits (22 bits ofdata+1 bit of sign) if both the input digital signal and the transformdigital signal are signed integer, 24 bits otherwise), and is obtainedby a multiplication of the input digital signal S1 by the unique sampleof the transform digital signal St.

The DAC 220 a converts the output digital signal S2 into a transformedoutput digital signal S2′ using an accuracy, in terms of number of bits,that will be defined hereinafter as the “conversion accuracy”. Most ofDACs for audio applications currently on the market, although taking asinput signals up to 24 bits, have a lesser conversion accuracy, forexample 21 bits. In the example of the FIG. 2a , the DAC 220 a has aconversion accuracy of 21 bits, which means that the output analog audiosignal D2′, although being be created based on the 24 bits of the outputdigital signal S2, is able to faithfully reproduce only the 21 mostsignificant bits of D2.

As explained above, in prior art systems, when a convolution isperformed to apply a function, as many bits as possible are used, inorder to have a definition of a transform as precise as possible. Forexample, in a prior art device to perform a change of amplitude of anaudio signals, a transform signal and output digital signal have a verylarge number of bits in order to perform very precise changes ofamplitude. For example, prior art systems for changing amplitude ofaudio signals often use output digital signals having a bit depth of 24or 32, and apply coefficients of amplitude change that are tailored toapply very precise gains, such as −30,00 dB for example. However, thisimplies that the information relative to the input digital signal isallocated among all bits of the output digital signal. Since the DACsusually provide a conversion accuracy corresponding to a number of bitssmaller than the bit depth of the output digital signal, a large portionof the information from the input digital signal is lost, and thisresults in an audio track which is deteriorated. In particular, theanalog output audio for such systems is subject to a distortion relatedto signal truncation.

This problem affects not only audio tracks, but also other kinds ofdigital signals, such as image signals.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, in order to overcome thisissue, the samples of the transform signal St are obtained by applyingan operation called “bit requirement optimization” to samples of atarget transform signal. The target transform signal represents thetransform signal that would be applied if the invention were not used.It corresponds for example to a representation as exact as possible ofthe impulse response of a filter to apply, or a coefficient of amplitudechange to apply.

The bit requirement optimization consists in a modification of values ofsamples, in order that the values of the optimized samples can beexpressed using a number of bits as low as possible. Thus, when samplesof another signal are multiplied by or convolved with the optimizedsamples, the result of the operation is stored in the most significantbits of the output digital signal. For example, if a gain is applied toan input digital signal having a bit depth of 16 bits, by multiplyingsuch input digital signal by a transform signal comprising an integercoefficient having a bit depth of 8 bits results in an output digitalsignal having a bit depth of 24 bits. A target sample of the transformcoefficient has a target value of 129, corresponding to a coefficient ofgain 129/256. The target value 129 corresponds to a binary value10000001 and requires 8 bits to be expressed. Therefore, themultiplication of the input digital signal by the coefficient 129/256requires 8 additional bits to be expressed without errors.

A bit requirement optimization of the transform digital signal mayconsist in replacing the value of gain 129/256 by 128/256, thatcorresponds to a binary value 10000000 and requires 8 bits to beexpressed. Therefore, such optimized coefficient has a value which isvery close to the target coefficient, but requires only one bit to beexpressed. Therefore, the multiplication of the input digital signal bythe optimized coefficient 128/256 requires only 1 additional bit to beexpressed without errors. This does not significantly affect thetransform applied to the input digital signal, but significantly reducesa loss of information when converting the output digital signal using alimited number of bits.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the bit requirementoptimization of the transform signal is dependent upon the values of thetarget transform signal. Indeed, the precision required to express thevalues may depend on the values of the target transform signal. Morespecifically, values very close to zero, corresponding to very lowgains, may be expressed with a higher precision, and thus a highernumber of additional bits, than higher values.

The bit requirement optimization of the transform signal may also dependupon a required precision of samples of the transform signal.

FIG. 2a represents an example in which the transform signal is obtainedby a bit requirement optimization of a target transform signal, in orderto preserve information from the input digital signal. In otherembodiments of the invention, the input digital signal is obtained by abit requirement optimization of a target input digital signal in orderto preserve information from the transform digital signal, or the inputdigital signal and the transform digital signal are obtainedrespectively by a bit requirement optimization of a target input digitalsignal and a bit requirement optimization of a target transform digitalsignal, in order to preserve information from both the input digitalsignal and the transform digital signal.

An example of bit requirement optimization consists in selecting thevalues of the samples of the transform signal St in order to be able toperform the transformations which are required, while retaining as muchinformation as possible from the input digital signal S1 in the mostsignificant bits of the output digital signal S2, in order for thisinformation to be preserved upon conversion by the DAC 220 a.

In order to do so, the transform signal St comprises one or more sampleswhose values belong to a discrete set of suitable values, which isdefined at least by a decreasing function defining a number ofadditional bits as a function of the absolute values of said suitablevalues. Each suitable value is equal to a division of a first integernumber by two raised to the power of a second integer number, saidsecond integer number being equal to or below a ceiling of theapplication of the growing function to the absolute value of saidsuitable values.

Thus, the transform signal St is formed of suitable coefficients, thatcan be expressed on the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

wherein k is an integer, and n is defined as a decreasing function ofthe suitable coefficients in the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}}.$

The formulation of a coefficient of the transform signal St as

$\frac{k}{2^{n}}$

will be employed through this description. Indeed, an interestingproperty of this formulation is that is allows a characterization of thenumber of bits required to preserve all information of the input digitalsignal. By means of example, if the input digital signal has an inputbit depth n₁=16, and is multiplied by a factor 3/2⁴, all information ofthe input digital signal can be stored using integer values representedon 16+4=20 bits. If the output digital signal S2 has a bit depth n2=24bits, and the DAC 220 a provides a conversion accuracy of 21 bits, itcan be appreciated that, the information from the input digital signalS1 being comprised within the 20 most significant bits of S2 after theapplication of the transform, the output analog signal S2′ will containall information from S1, thereby avoiding the above mentioned issues inthe output analog signal S2′.

Now, if in the same configuration the input digital signal S1 ismultiplied by a factor 3/2⁶, all information of the input digital signalcan be stored using integer values represented on 16+6=22 bits in theoutput digital signal S2. Therefore, upon a conversion having anaccuracy of 21 bits, there may be a little loss of information duringconversion by the DAC 220 a. However, this loss of information remainsmuch smaller than a loss of information that would be created by usingrandomly chosen coefficient that would allocate information from theinput digital signal S1 over the full range of the output digital signalS2.

The number of bits which is required by each suitable coefficient topreserve all information from the input digital signal S1 will bereferred to as the “additional number of bits”. An aim of the inventionis to obtain an additional number of bits which is as low as possibleand thus preserve as much information as possible from the input digitalsignal, while ensuring that a target transform can be applied with therequired precision.

An important property of the suitable values of the invention is thatthe lower are absolute value of suitable values, the higher n can be,since the n is obtained as a growing function of the suitable values.This makes it possible to use an additional number of bits that is lowfor high values, and higher for lower values. Indeed, in manyapplications the input digital signal S1 is multiplied by low values.This is for example the case when an important attenuation is applied toan audio digital signal, thereby corresponding to a multiplication by acoefficient close to zero. It is also the case when applying FIR filtershaving a large number of coefficients to the input digital signal S1. Ingeneral, the values of coefficients of FIR filters decrease with thenumber of coefficients of the FIR.

Thus, the device 200 a allows the multiplication of values of samples ofthe input digital signal S1 by samples having a value

$\frac{k}{2^{n}}$

with a low value or n, and thus a low number of additional bits for highcoefficients, and a value

$\frac{k}{2^{n}}$

with a higher value or n, and thus a higher number of additional bitsfor low coefficients, whose absolute value is closer to zero. It isnecessary to use a higher number of additional bits for lowcoefficients, whose absolute value is close to zero, in order to have asufficient step between two coefficients. Thus, the information of theinput digital signal S1 is preserved by using an additional number ofbits as low as possible depending on the values by which the inputdigital signal shall be multiplied.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the discrete set ofsuitable coefficients is further defined by a maximum number of bits,and each second integer number for each suitable coefficient is equal toor below said maximum number of bits.

This allows to set a boundary on the additional number of bits. Forexample, if the maximum number of bits is equal to 8, each suitablevalue can be expressed on the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with n≥8. Thus, a maximum additional number of bits of 8 is used. In theexample displayed in FIG. 2a , the bit depth of the input digital signalS1 being equal to 8, using a maximum number of bits of 8 allowspreserving all information from S1 within an output digital signal S2having a bit depth of 16+8=24.

However, this limits the range of values of samples that can be used.For example, using the maximum number of bits equal to 8 means that theabsolute values of all suitable coefficients are equal at least on 1/2⁸.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the decreasing function isa number of bits of precision minus a binary logarithm of the absolutevalue of said suitable value.

The number of bits of precision defines a compromise between the numberof additional bits used by each suitable coefficient, and the number ofsuitable coefficients that are available, while the use of a binarylogarithm as a advantageously sets the additional number of bitsdepending on absolute values of the suitable coefficients.

For example, if the number of bits of precision is equal to 3:

-   -   in a range of absolute values of suitable values of [½; 1[, the        second integer number n can be defined so that:        -   CEILING(3−log2(½))≥n>CEILING(3−log2(1));        -   CEILING(3−(−1))≥n>CEILING(3−0);        -   CEILING(4)≥n>CEILING(3);        -   4≥n>3;        -   Thus n=4, and the suitable values in the range ]½; 1] can be            chosen among values in the form

$\frac{k}{2^{4}}$

in the range [½; 1], that is to say the values 9/16, 10/16, 11/16,12/16, 13/16, 14/16, 15/16, 16/16,

-   -   in a range of absolute values of suitable values of ]¼; ½], the        second integer number n can be defined so that:        -   CEILING(3−log2(¼))≥n>CEILING(3−log2(½));        -   CEILING(3−(−2))≥n>CEILING(3−(−1));        -   CEILING(5)≥n>CEILING(4);        -   5≥n>4;        -   Thus n=5, and the suitable values in the range ]¼; ½] can be            chosen among values in the form

$\frac{k}{2^{5}}$

in the range ]¼; ½], that is to say the values 9/32, 10/32, 11/32,12/32, 13/32, 14/32, 15/32, 16/32,

Thus, the use of a binary logarithm naturally defines ranges of valuesof the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)], that all comprise the same number ofsuitable values. The values of the samples of the transform signal Stcan therefore be chosen among coefficients in the set of suitablecoefficients, with a precision which is roughly proportional to thevalues of the suitable coefficients themselves, while ensuring that thenumber of additional bits is as low as possible depending on the valuesof the suitable coefficients and the number of bits of precision.

Thus, the number of bits of precision NPREC defines the number ofsuitable values in each range of values on the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)],which is equal to 2^(NPREC).

The number of bits of precision can be defined depending on a targetprecision of the transform. This allows to ensure that each suitablecoefficient uses the additional number of bits which is just sufficientto apply the suitable coefficients with the target precision.

It is for example possible to define a target number of suitable valuesin each range having the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)]. The number of suitablevalues in such range being equal to 2^(NPREC), the number of bits ofprecision NPREC can be set as the ceiling of a binary logarithm of thetarget number of suitable values in a range having the form ]½^(N+1);½^(N)].

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the number of suitablevalues in a range having the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)] is equal to 6 dividedby an average target step between two suitable values, in dB.

Stated otherwise, it shall be noted that, in embodiments wherein thevalues of the suitable samples represent changes of amplitude of theinput digital signal S1 expressed in dB, the ranges of the form]½^(N+1); ½^(N)] have an amplitude of 6 dB. Therefore, a target numberof suitable values within the range can be obtained directly by dividing6 by an average target step between two suitable values, in dB. Thus,this defines the optimal number of bits of precision in order that theset of suitable values achieves a target precision, while retaining anadditional number of bits which is as low as possible for each suitablevalue, and preserving the maximum amount of information from each sampleof the input digital signal S1.

This allows a definition of sets of suitable values. For example, thetable below defines a set of suitable values corresponding to suitablevalues comprised between 0 to 4, for an average target step of 0.75 dBbetween two values and a maximum number of bits of 8.

Based on this information, it can be found that 8 (6/0.75) suitablevalues are required per range having the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)]. Thus, anumber of bits of precision NPREC=log2(8)=3 is selected.

A set of suitable values such as the set displayed in table 1 below canbe defined by setting the suitable values as defined below:

-   -   two raised to the power of the number of bits of precision        values, respectively equal to a first integer value from 1 to        two raised to the power of the number of bits of precision        divided by two raised to the power of the maximum number of        bits. In this example, this corresponds to the 16 (2⁴) values on        the bottom of the table, which are correspond to suitable values        from 1/2⁸ to 16/2⁸ (that is to say a first integer value from 1        to 2⁴, divided by 2⁸, 8 being the maximum number of bits here;    -   for each range in a plurality of ranges defined by a second        integer value comprised between a binary logarithm of said        maximum suitable value and the maximum number of bits minus one:        -   two raised to the power of the number of bits of precision            minus one values, respectively equal to:            -   a first integer value from one plus two raised to the                power of the number of bits of precision minus one to                two raised to the power of the number of bits of                precision divided by            -   two raised to the power of the second integer value.                In this example, a maximum suitable value is set to 4.                Therefore, it can be obtained using a second integer                value equal to log2(4)+1=2+1=3. Thus, for each second                integer value n from 2 to 7 (8−1), 8 (2⁴⁻¹) suitable                values are defined, respectively equal to a first                integer value comprised between 2⁴⁻¹+1=9 to 2⁴ 16, said                first integer value being divided by 2^(n), that is to                say values from

${\frac{9}{2^{n}}\mspace{14mu} {to}\mspace{14mu} \frac{16}{2^{n}}},$

for n=3, . . . , 7. Thus each second integer value n defines a range ofvalue, and the set of suitable values thereby obtained can be expressedin the table below:

TABLE 1 Set of suitable values up to 4 with 3 bits of precision, and amaximum number of bits of 8 First Second Suitable values int IntFraction Fraction Range value value 1 2 Decimal Decibels   6/12 dB 16 216/2²  4/2⁰ 4.0000 12.04 15 2 15/2² 15/2² 3.7500 11.48 14 2 14/2²  7/2¹3.5000 10.88 13 2 13/2² 13/2² 3.2500 10.24 12 2 12/2²  3/2⁰ 3.0000 9.5411 2 11/2² 11/2² 2.7500 8.79 10 2 10/2²  5/2¹ 2.5000 7.96 9 2  9/2² 9/2² 2.2500 7.04   0/6 dB 16 3 16/2³  2/2⁰ 2.0000 6.02 15 3 15/2³ 15/2³1.8750 5.46 14 3 14/2³  7/2² 1.7500 4.86 13 3 13/2³ 13/2³ 1.6250 4.22 123 12/2³  3/2¹ 1.5000 3.52 11 3 11/2³ 11/2³ 1.3750 2.77 10 3 10/2³  5/2²1.2500 1.94 9 3  9/2³  9/2³ 1.1250 1.02   −6/0 dB 16 4 16/2⁴  1/2⁰1.0000 0.00 15 4 15/2⁴ 15/2⁴ 0.9375 −0.56 14 4 14/2⁴  7/2³ 0.8750 −1.1613 4 13/2⁴ 13/2⁴ 0.8125 −1.80 12 4 12/2⁴  3/2² 0.7500 −2.50 11 4 11/2⁴11/2⁴ 0.6875 −3.25 10 4 10/2⁴  5/2³ 0.6250 −4.08 9 4  9/2⁴  9/2⁴ 0.5625−5.00  −12/−6 dB 16 5 16/2⁵  1/2¹ 0.5000 −6.02 15 5 15/2⁵ 15/2⁵ 0.4688−6.58 14 5 14/2⁵  7/2⁴ 0.4375 −7.18 13 5 13/2⁵ 13/2⁵ 0.4063 −7.82 12 512/2⁵  3/2³ 0.3750 −8.52 11 5 11/2⁵ 11/2⁵ 0.3438 −9.28 10 5 10/2⁵  5/2⁴0.3125 −10.10 9 5  9/2⁵  9/2⁵ 0.2813 −11.02 −18/−12 dB 16 6 16/2⁶  1/2²0.2500 −12.04 15 6 15/2⁶ 15/2⁶ 0.2344 −12.60 14 6 14/2⁶  7/2⁵ 0.2188−13.20 13 6 13/2⁶ 13/2⁶ 0.2031 −13.84 12 6 12/2⁶  3/2⁴ 0.1875 −14.54 116 11/2⁶ 11/2⁶ 0.1719 −15.30 10 6 10/2⁶  5/2⁵ 0.1563 −16.12 9 6  9/2⁶ 9/2⁶ 0.1406 −17.04 −24/−18 dB 16 7 16/2⁷  1/2³ 0.1250 −18.06 15 7 15/2⁷15/2⁷ 0.1172 −18.62 14 7 14/2⁷  7/2⁶ 0.1094 −19.22 13 7 13/2⁷ 13/2⁷0.1016 −19.87 12 7 12/2⁷  3/2⁵ 0.0938 −20.56 11 7 11/2⁷ 11/2⁷ 0.0859−21.32 10 7 10/2⁷  5/2⁶ 0.0781 −22.14 9 7  9/2⁷  9/2⁷ 0.0703 −23.06−30/−24 dB 16 8 16/2⁸  1/2⁴ 0.0625 −24.08 15 8 15/2⁸ 15/2⁸ 0.0586 −24.6414 8 14/2⁸  7/2⁷ 0.0547 −25.24 13 8 13/2⁸ 13/2⁸ 0.0508 −25.89 12 8 12/2⁸ 3/2⁶ 0.0469 −26.58 11 8 11/2⁸ 11/2⁸ 0.0430 −27.34 10 8 10/2⁸  5/2⁷0.0391 −28.16 9 8  9/2⁸  9/2⁸ 0.0352 −29.08 −36/−30 dB 8 8  8/2⁸  1/2⁵0.0313 −30.10 7 8  7/2⁸  7/2⁸ 0.0273 −31.26 6 8  6/2⁸  3/2⁷ 0.0234−32.60 5 8  5/2⁸  5/2⁸ 0.0195 −34.19 −42/−36 dB 4 8  4/2⁸  1/2⁶ 0.0156−36.12 3 8  3/2⁸  3/2⁸ 0.0117 −38.62 −48/−42 dB 2 8  2/2⁸  1/2⁷ 0.0078−42.14 −54/−48 dB 1 8  1/2⁸  1/2⁸ 0.0039 −48.16

As displayed in the table above, the set of suitable values defines afull range of suitable values. Each line represents a suitable value,and the columns have the meaning below:

-   -   Range: defines range of suitable values. A range is defined for        each second integer value, and corresponds to a range of change        of amplitude of 6 dB, when the values are expressed in decibels;    -   First int value: the first integer value k that defines the        suitable value;    -   Second integer value: the second integer value (n) that defines        the suitable value;    -   Suitable values: the 4 columns express each suitable value in 4        different ways:        -   Fraction 1: represents the suitable value, as a division of            the first integer (k) by two raised to the power of the            second integer (n);        -   Fraction 2: represents a simplification of fraction 1, when            possible as a fraction of an odd integer number by two            raised to the power of an integer number as low as possible.            Interestingly, this representation provides a direct            indication of the number of additional bits required by the            suitable coefficient;        -   Decimal value: represents each suitable coefficient as a            decimal value;        -   Decibel: represents each suitable coefficient in decibels.

For example, the suitable defined in the range “−6/−12 dB” by the line:

12 5 12/2⁵ 3/2³ 0.3750 −8.521has a first number k equal to 12, and a second number n equal to 5.Therefore, this suitable value can be expressed as:

12/2⁵=3/2³=0.375=−8.52 dB

This suitable value fulfils all the conditions defined above:

-   -   it can be expressed as a fraction

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with k=5, n=5;

-   -   n≤┌3−log2(0.375)┐=┌3−(−1.41)┐=┌4.41┐=5, wherein 3 is the number        of bits of precision, and 0.375 is the suitable value.

It thus shall be noted that, in the sets of suitable value defined bythe invention, not all values are suitable values. For example, in thesame range “−6/−12 dB”, a value equal to 23/2⁶=0.3593 would not besuitable. Indeed, this fraction cannot be further simplified to beexpressed with a division by a lower power of two, and 6 is not asuitable value of the second integer within the range “−6/−12 dB”.Indeed, the condition n≤┌3−log2(0, 3593)┐ is not fulfilled, since n=6,and ┌3−log2(0, 3593)┐=5.

Stated otherwise, the number of additional bits required by acoefficient 23/2⁶ is too high, and it is better to use the coefficientsdefined in the table 1, that use a lower number of additional bits inthe range “−6/−12 dB”, and thus reduce the artifacts produced whenconverting the output digital signal with a limited number of bits ofconversion. Therefore, a set of suitable values of the inventionprovides a set of values that match a required precision at each rangeof values, while requiring a number of additional bits as low aspossible depending on a target precision and range wherein a suitablevalue is found.

As explained above, the suitable value 12/2⁵ can also be written 3/2₃.This form is interesting, as it expresses the suitable value as adivision of an odd number by two raised to a number as low as possible.This means that the input digital signal can be multiplied by thissuitable value by using only 3 additional bits. Even if it is inpractic, multiplied the input digital signal is multiplied by 12/2⁵, theinformation from the input digital signal will be stored in a number ofthe most significant bits of the output digital signal, which is equalto the number of bits of the input digital signal plus the number ofadditional bits.

It shall be noted that the table above is written for positive values.However, the invention is not restricted to this case, and it ispossible to define negative suitable values using the same principle.

It is also possible to use a higher number of bits of precision, to havemore suitable values, even if some of them use more additional bitswithin each range, or use a lower number of bits of precision to use,even less additional bits within each range, but with a lower number ofsuitable values and thus less precision.

For example, the table below defines a set of suitable valuescorresponding to suitable values comprised between 0 to 4, for anaverage target step of 1.5 dB between two values and a maximum number ofbits of 8.

Based on these information, it can be found that a 4 (6/1.5) suitablevalues are required per range having the form ]½^(N+1); ½^(N)]. Thus anumber of bits of precision NPREC=log2(4)=2 is selected. The suitablevalues comprised between 0 and 4 are indicated in the table below:

TABLE 2 Set of suitable values up to 4 with 2 bits of precision, and amaximum number of bits of 8 First int Second Int Suitable values(k/2^(n)) value value Fraction Fraction Range (k) (n) 1 2 DecimalDecibels   6/12 dB 8 1 8/2¹ 4/2⁰ 4.0000 12.04 7 1 7/2¹ 7/2¹ 3.5000 10.886 1 6/2¹ 3/2⁰ 3.0000 9.54 5 1 5/2¹ 5/2¹ 2.5000 7.96   0/6 dB 8 2 8/2²2/2⁰ 2.0000 6.02 7 2 7/2² 7/2² 1.7500 4.86 6 2 6/2² 3/2¹ 1.5000 3.52 5 25/2² 5/2² 1.2500 1.94 −6 dB/0 dB 8 3 8/2³ 1/2⁰ 1.0000 0.00 7 3 7/2³ 7/2³0.8750 −1.16 6 3 6/2³ 3/2² 0.7500 −2.50 5 3 5/2³ 5/2³ 0.6250 −4.08 −12/−6 dB 8 4 8/2⁴ 1/2¹ 0.5000 −6.02 7 4 7/2⁴ 7/2⁴ 0.4375 −7.18 6 46/2⁴ 3/2³ 0.3750 −8.52 5 4 5/2⁴ 5/2⁴ 0.3125 −10.10 −18/−12 dB 8 5 8/2⁵1/2² 0.2500 −12.04 7 5 7/2⁵ 7/2⁵ 0.2188 −13.20 6 5 6/2⁵ 3/2⁴ 0.1875−14.54 5 5 5/2⁵ 5/2⁵ 0.1563 −16.12 −24/−18 dB 8 6 8/2⁶ 1/2³ 0.1250−18.06 7 6 7/2⁶ 7/2⁶ 0.1094 −19.22 6 6 6/2⁶ 3/2⁵ 0.0938 −20.56 5 6 5/2⁶5/2⁶ 0.0781 −22.14 −30/−24 dB 8 7 8/2⁷ 1/2⁴ 0.0625 −24.08 7 7 7/2⁷ 7/2⁷0.0547 −25.24 6 7 6/2⁷ 3/2⁶ 0.0469 −26.58 5 7 5/2⁷ 5/2⁷ 0.0391 −28.16−36/−30 dB 8 8 8/2⁸ 1/2⁵ 0.0313 −30.10 7 8 7/2⁸ 7/2⁸ 0.0273 −31.26 6 86/2⁸ 3/2⁷ 0.0234 −32.60 5 8 5/2⁸ 5/2⁸ 0.0195 −34.19 −42/−36 dB 4 8 4/2⁸1/2⁶ 0.0156 −36.12 3 8 3/2⁸ 3/2⁸ 0.0117 −38.62 −48/−42 dB 2 8 2/2⁸ 1/2⁷0.0078 −42.14 −54/−48 dB 1 8 1/2⁸ 1/2⁸ 0.0039 −48.16

It can be noted that the maximum number of bits, set to 8 in the aboveexamples, limits the attenuation that can be reached by the suitablevalues. Indeed, the lowest suitable value is here ½⁸, which correspondsto an attenuation about 48 dB. However, the invention is not restrictedto this example, and different maximum numbers of bits may be used. Forexample, the table below corresponds to a set of suitable values yup to4 with 2 bits of precision. By contrast with table 2, the maximum numberof bits is set to 9:

TABLE 3 Set of suitable values up to 4 with 2 bits of precision, and amaximum number of bits of 9 First Second Suitable values (k/2^(n)) intvalue Int value Fraction Fraction Range (k) (n) 1 2 Decimal Decibels  6/12 dB 8 1 8/2¹ 4/2⁰ 4.0000 12.04 7 1 7/2¹ 7/2¹ 3.5000 10.88 6 1 6/2¹3/2⁰ 3.0000 9.54 5 1 5/2¹ 5/2¹ 2.5000 7.96   0/6 dB 8 2 8/2² 2/2⁰ 2.00006.02 7 2 7/2² 7/2² 1.7500 4.86 6 2 6/2² 3/2¹ 1.5000 3.52 5 2 5/2² 5/2²1.2500 1.94 −6 dB/0 dB 8 3 8/2³ 1/2⁰ 1.0000 0.00 7 3 7/2³ 7/2³ 0.8750−1.16 6 3 6/2³ 3/2² 0.7500 −2.50 5 3 5/2³ 5/2³ 0.6250 −4.08  −12/−6 dB 84 8/2⁴ 1/2¹ 0.5000 −6.02 7 4 7/2⁴ 7/2⁴ 0.4375 −7.18 6 4 6/2⁴ 3/2³ 0.3750−8.52 5 4 5/2⁴ 5/2⁴ 0.3125 −10.10 −18/−12 dB 8 5 8/2⁵ 1/2² 0.2500 −12.047 5 7/2⁵ 7/2⁵ 0.2188 −13.20 6 5 6/2⁵ 3/2⁴ 0.1875 −14.54 5 5 5/2⁵ 5/2⁵0.1563 −16.12 −24/−18 dB 8 6 8/2⁶ 1/2³ 0.1250 −18.06 7 6 7/2⁶ 7/2⁶0.1094 −19.22 6 6 6/2⁶ 3/2⁵ 0.0938 −20.56 5 6 5/2⁶ 5/2⁶ 0.0781 −22.14−30/−24 dB 8 7 8/2⁷ 1/2⁴ 0.0625 −24.08 7 7 7/2⁷ 7/2⁷ 0.0547 −25.24 6 76/2⁷ 3/2⁶ 0.0469 −26.58 5 7 5/2⁷ 5/2⁷ 0.0391 −28.16 −36/−30 dB 8 8 8/2⁸1/2⁵ 0.0313 −30.10 7 8 7/2⁸ 7/2⁸ 0.0273 −31.26 6 8 6/2⁸ 3/2⁷ 0.0234−32.60 5 8 5/2⁸ 5/2⁸ 0.0195 −34.19 −42/−36 dB 8 9 8/2⁹ 1/2⁶ 0.0156−36.12 7 9 7/2⁹ 7/2⁹ 0.0137 −37.28 6 9 6/2⁹ 3/2⁸ 0.0117 −38.62 5 9 5/2⁹5/2⁹ 0.0098 −40.21 −48/−42 dB 4 9 4/2⁹ 1/2⁷ 0.0078 −42.14 3 9 3/2⁹ 3/2⁹0.0059 −44.64 −54/−48 dB 2 9 2/2⁹ 1/2⁸ 0.0039 −48.16 −60/−54 dB 1 9 1/2⁹1/2⁹ 0.0020 −54.19

The set of table 3 thus comprises, in addition of the suitablecoefficients already found in table 2, coefficients that can be writtenin the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with n=9. Thus, the set defined in table 3 defines coefficients down to1/2⁹, that correspond to an attenuation of a signal down to around −54dB.

It can also be noted that, in the set of suitable values defined intable 2, in each sub-range, the suitable values use a lower number ofadditional bits. For example, in the range “−6/−12 dB”:

-   -   in the set defined in table 1, the second integer value is equal        to 5, which means that each suitable value can be written in the        form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with n≤5;

-   -   in the set defined in tables 2 and 3, the second integer value        is equal to 4, which means that each suitable value can be        written in the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with n≤4.Therefore, using the suitable values in the sets defined in the tables 2and 3 ensures that a maximum additional number of bits of 4 will be usedfor suitable values ranging from −12 dB to −6 dB (i.e between ¼ and ½),while using values in the set defined in table 1 ensures that a maximumadditional number of bits of 5 will be used for suitable values in thesame range from −12 dB to −6 dB (i.e between ¼ and ½). However, the setdefined in table 1 contains a higher number of suitable values, andtherefore allows a selection of a suitable value with more precision.

These examples highlight the ability of the invention to obtain the bestcompromise between reducing the number of additional bits required topreserve the information from the input digital signal, thereby avoidingdegradation upon future conversion of the output digital signal, andobtaining suitable values with a desired precision. It shall be notedthat the invention is not restricted to these examples, and lower orhigher numbers of bits of precision can be used, in order to obtainsuitable values with an increased precision, or lower the number ofadditional bits required by the suitable values.

It is also possible to use sets of suitable value that use a subset ofone of the sets defined above. For example, one may wish to build a setof suitable values with a number of bits of precision equal to 3, amaximum number of bits equal to 8, and an average step of 1dB betweentwo values. This is possible by selecting a subset of the values intable 1, corresponding to suitable values with steps of about 1 dBbetween successive suitable values.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, wherein the transformsignal comprises a plurality of samples, the samples of the transformsignal can have values that belong to different sets of suitable values.For example, each sample can be associated to a number of bits ofprecision, and the value of the sample can be selected among suitablevalues defined at least by the number of bits of precision associated tothis sample.

Therefore, the set of suitable values which is best suited for eachsample can be used, to be tailored to a required precision of eachsample. These embodiments are interesting for transform signals that arerepresentative of a transformation wherein the value certain samplesneed to be applied very precisely. For example, as will be exemplifiedin FIGS. 11a to 11c , a RIAA filter can be built using the invention, byproviding more precision (i.e using suitable values defined using a highnumber of bits of precision) to the values of samples that have a steepvariation from sample to sample, and less precision to values of othersamples, in order to limit the number of bits of these samples. Thisallows preserving the overall shape of the curve, while limiting as muchas possible the number of additional bits used.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the transform signal St isdefined to apply a transform on the input digital signal S1. Forexample, the convolution of the input digital signal by a transformsignal having a single sample changes the amplitude of the input digitalsignal, while the convolution of the input digital signal by a transformsignal having a plurality of samples allows the application of a FIRfilter whose impulse response is defined by the transform signal St.

As explained above, in order to prevent as much as possible a loss ofinformation from the input digital signal S1 in a future conversion ofthe output digital signal S2, the values of the samples of the transformsignal St belong to one or more sets of suitable values.

For example, each sample of the transform signal St may be associatedwith a precision, in dB. It is thus possible to define, for each sampleof the transform signal St, a set of suitable value as explained above.

A set of possible values as defined by the invention may not allow toreach all possible target values for a sample. For example, if thedevice 200 a is configured to apply a change of amplitude to the inputdigital signal S1 by performing a convolution with a transform signalhaving a single sample representative of a coefficient of change ofamplitude having the suitable values defined in the table 1, the device200 a will not be able to apply a coefficient of change of amplitude of−25,00 dB. Instead, it may be configured to use a nearby suitable value,such as the value 14/2⁸, that corresponds to a coefficient of change ofamplitude of −25,24 dB. The same principle can be applied if the samplesof the transform signal St correspond to coefficients of a FIR filter.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the values of the one ormore samples are selected among the suitable values according to targetvalues and a rule of selection of suitable values. This allows aselection of the values of the one or more samples which is the mostappropriate depending on target values of the samples of the transformsignal.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the rule of selection ofvalues selects suitable values which are the closest to the targetvalues. This allows the transform signal to be formed of suitablevalues, and therefore reducing the degradations of the signal, whileremaining as close as possible to the target values.

For example, using this rule, if a coefficient of change of amplitudeneeds to be selected in the suitable values of Table 1:

-   -   if the target coefficient of amplitude change is −2 dB, the        suitable value 13/2⁴, that corresponds to an amplitude change of        −1.80 dB which is the closest to −2 dB in table 1 is selected;    -   if the target coefficient of amplitude change is −7 dB, the        suitable value 15/2⁵, that corresponds to an amplitude change of        −7.18 dB which is the closest to −7 dB in table 1 is selected.

This rule also allows, based on a number of bits of precision NPREC anda maximum number of bits NMAX, a direct determination of a suitablevalue V_(s) corresponding to a target value V_(t), by applying the stepsbelow:

-   -   determination of the second integer value n for the suitable        value V_(s):        -   n=min(NPREC−log2(|V_(t)|, NMAX);    -   determination of a first integer value k for the suitable value        V_(s):        -   k=round(max(V_(t)*2^(n); 1)if V_(t)>0;        -   k=round(min(V_(t)*2^(n); −1)if V_(t)<0;    -   Calculation of V_(s) based on n and k:

$V_{s} = \frac{k}{2^{n}}$

Such rule of calculation advantageously allows to calculate a closestsuitable value for a target value, without needing to compute the fullset of suitable value. The table below provides some examples ofcalculations of suitable values for a plurality of target values, eitherformulated as a target coefficient in dB, or a target decimal value.

The table below provides an example of calculation of suitable valuesaccording to target values, for a number of bits of precision of 3, anda maximum number of bits of 8.

TABLE 4 Examples of calculations of suitable values, for NPREC = 3 andNMAX = 8 Tqt Val Tqt val Suit. Suit. Error Error (dB) (dec.) n Target kk Val. Val. (dB) Error (%) (dB) −3 0.7079458 4 11.327133 11 0.6875−3.2545 −0.0204 −2.9% −0.2545 6 1.9952623 3 15.962099 16 2.0000 6.02060.0047 0.2% 0.0206 1 1.1220185 3 8.9761476 9 1.1250 1.0231 0.0030 0.3%0.0231 −6 0.5011872 4 8.0189957 8 0.5000 −6.0206 −0.0012 −0.2% −0.0206−9 0.3548134 5 11.354028 11 0.3438 −9.2751 −0.0111 −3.1% −0.2751 −100.3162278 5 10.119289 10 0.3125 −10.1030 −0.0037 −1.2% −0.1030 −110.2818383 5 9.0188254 9 0.2813 −11.0181 −0.0006 −0.2% −0.0181 −120.2511886 5 8.0380366 8 0.2500 −12.0412 −0.0012 −0.5% −0.0412 −420.0079433 8 2.0334803 2 0.0078 −42.1442 −0.0001 −1.6% −0.1442 −440.0063096 8 1.6152508 2 0.0078 −42.1442 0.0015 23.8% 1.8558 −60 0.001 80.256 1 0.0039 −48.1648 0.0029 290.6% 11.8352 −3.75 0.6494 4 10.3904 100.6250 −4.0824 −0.0244 −3.8% −0.3324 −0.47 5 −15.04 −15 −0.4688 −6.58120.0012 −0.3% −0.6494 4 −10.3904 −10 −0.6250 −4.0824 0.0244 −3.8% 0.33 510.56 11 0.3438 −9.2751 0.0138 4.2% 0.56 4 8.96 9 0.5625 −4.9975 0.00250.4% 0.5 4 8 8 0.5000 −6.0206 0.0000 0.0% 0.47 5 15.04 15 0.4688 −6.5812−0.0012 −0.3% 0.33 5 10.56 11 0.3438 −9.2751 0.0138 4.2% 0.25 5 8 80.2500 −12.0412 0.0000 0.0% 0.15 6 9.6 10 0.1563 −16.1236 0.0063 4.2%0.125 6 8 8 0.1250 −18.0618 0.0000 0.0% 0.111 7 14.208 14 0.1094−19.2216 −0.0016 −1.5% 0.0007 8 0.1792 1 0.0039 −48.1648 0.0032 458.0%0.0000089 8 0.0022784 1 0.0039 −48.1648 0.0039 43790.4%

Although not represented here, the values have been calculated using anExcel file, columns and row thereof being numbered as follows:

-   -   the row start from 1, which is the title row. The row starting        with “Tgt Val” is row 1, the row starting with “−3” is row to,        the row starting with “6” is row 3 etc. . . .    -   the columns start from B. Thus the columns titled “Tgt Val (dB)”        is column B, the column titles “Tgt Val (dec.)” column C, the        column titled “n” column D, etc. . . .    -   the example the number of bits of precision is stored as a        parameter in the cell N8, and the maximum number of bits as a        parameter in cell N9, which are not represented here. IN this        example the number of bits of precision is equal to 3, and the        maximum number of bits equal to 8.        The formulas used in Excel will be reminded afterwards, using        the column/cell numbering defined above.

The values in the Table 3 have been calculated or entered in the programthe steps below, expressed by means of example for line 2:

-   -   Tgt val. (dB): column B: input target value, expressed in dB;    -   Tgt val (dec.): column C: input target value, expressed in        decimal value:        -   in line 2, calculated using the formula “=POW(10;B2/20)”            that corresponds to a conversion of the target value from dB            to decimal values;        -   starting from line 18, the target values are entered            directly in decimal value;    -   n: column D: second integer value n for the suitable value,        calculated using the formula:        “MIN(PLAFOND($N$8−LOG(ABS(C2);2);1);$N$9)”, which means that the        second integer value n for the suitable value is equal to the        number of bits of precision NPREC minus the binary logarithm of        the target value, unless this value is below the maximum number        of bits. As noted above, the second integer value can be equal        to the number of additional bits if the first integer value is        an odd value, or grater that the additional number of bits, if        the first integer value is an even value and the fraction can be        simplifier;    -   Target k: column E: the non-integer value k′ that would        correspond to the target value, expressed in the form

$\frac{k^{\prime}}{2^{n}},$

calculated using the formula “=C2*POW(2;D2);

-   -   k: column F: first integer value k of the suitable coefficient,        corresponding to a rounding of the non-integer value k′,        calculated using the formula: =SIGN(E2)*MAX(ABS(ROUND(E2;0));        1);    -   Suit val.: column G: suitable value, expressed as a decimal        value, calculated as k/2^(n), using the formula:        “=F2/POW(2;D2)”;    -   Suit. val. (dB): column H: suitable value, expressed in dB,        calculated using the formula: “=20*LOG(ABS(G2);10)”;    -   Error: column I: error between the suitable value and the target        value, in decimal value, calculated using the formula “=G2−C2”;    -   Error (%): column J: error between the suitable value and the        target value, in percentage of the target value, calculated        using the formula “=I2/C2”;    -   Error (dB): column K: error between the suitable value and the        target value, in dB, calculated using the formula: “=H2−B2”, for        target values initially expressed in dB.

Table 4 demonstrates the ability of the invention to calculate directlya suitable value based on a target value. The table also demonstratesthat the error between the target coefficient and the suitablecoefficient remains low in percentage of the target value or in dB. Theonly exception concerns very low target values such as −60 dB thatcannot be expressed using the maximum number of bits. In this case, asdemonstrated by Table 1, a maximum number of bits of 8 does not allowsuitable coefficients below −48,1648 dB.

However, if needed, these errors can be reduced using a higher number ofbits of precision and/or a higher maximum number of bits. The tablebelow displays the calculation of suitable values for the same targetcoefficients, using 5 bits of precision (NPREC=5), and a maximum numberof bits of 24 (NMAX=24):

TABLE 5 Examples of calculations of suitable values, for NPREC = 5 andNMAX = 24 Tqt Val Tqt val Suit. Suit. Val. Error Error (dB) (dec.) nTarget k k Val. (dB) Error (%) (dB) −3 0.7079458 6 45.30853 45 0.7031−3.0593 −0.0048 −0.7% −0.0593 6 1.9952623 5 63.848394 64 2.0000 6.02060.0047 0.2% 0.0206 1 1.1220185 5 35.904591 36 1.1250 1.0231 0.0030 0.3%0.0231 −6 0.5011872 6 32.075983 32 0.5000 −6.0206 −0.0012 −0.2% −0.0206−9 0.3548134 7 45.416114 45 0.3516 −9.0799 −0.0033 −0.9% −0.0799 −100.3162278 7 40.477154 40 0.3125 −10.1030 −0.0037 −1.2% −0.1030 −110.2818383 7 36.075302 36 0.2813 −11.0181 −0.0006 −0.2% −0.0181 −120.2511886 7 32.152146 32 0.2500 −12.0412 −0.0012 −0.5% −0.0412 −420.0079433 12 32.535684 33 0.0081 −41.8769 0.0001 1.4% 0.1231 −440.0063096 13 51.688026 52 0.0063 −43.9477 0.0000 0.6% 0.0523 −60 0.00115 32.768 33 0.0010 −59.9387 0.0000 0.7% 0.0613 −3.75 0.6494 6 41.561642 0.6563 −3.6586 0.0069 1.1% 0.0914 −0.47 7 −60.16 −60 −0.4688 −6.58120.0012 −0.3% −0.6494 6 −41.5616 −42 −0.6563 −3.6586 −0.0069 1.1% 0.33 742.24 42 0.3281 −9.6792 −0.0019 −0.6% 0.56 6 35.84 36 0.5625 −4.99750.0025 0.4% 0.5 6 32 32 0.5000 −6.0206 0.0000 0.0% 0.47 7 60.16 600.4688 −6.5812 −0.0012 −0.3% 0.33 7 42.24 42 0.3281 −9.6792 −0.0019−0.6% 0.25 7 32 32 0.2500 −12.0412 0.0000 0.0% 0.15 8 38.4 38 0.1484−16.5691 −0.0016 −1.0% 0.125 8 32 32 0.1250 −18.0618 0.0000 0.0% 0.111 956.832 57 0.1113 −19.0679 0.0003 0.3% 0.0007 16 45.8752 46 0.0007−63.0744 0.0000 0.3% 0.0000089 22 37.329306 37 0.0000 −101.0892 0.0000−0.9%

This example shows that the additional bits allow a definition ofsuitable coefficients which are closer to the target coefficients.However, the use of higher additional numbers of bits may cause loss ofinformation from the input digital signal, and the degradations uponconversion of the output digital signal. The number of bits of precisionNPREC, and maximum number of bits NMAX can be set according to the needsof a user of the device 200 a. Therefore, these examples demonstrate theability of the invention to perform a compromise between a reduction ofthe loss of information in the output signal, and precision of thetransformation according to the needs of a user.

The examples above represent rules of selection of a suitable valuewhich is the closest from a target value in a set of suitable values.However, other rules of selection of suitable values are possible. Forexample, a rule of selection may be based on a combination of an errorbetween target and suitable values, and an additional number of bitsrequired by suitable values. Such rule of selection select, startingfrom a target value, a suitable value which is close to the targetvalue, and, if possible use a low number of additional bits. By means ofexample, coming back to Table 1, if a suitable value needs to beselected in table 1 for a corresponding target value of −9 dB, the twoclosest suitable values are:

a. 12/2⁵=3/2³=−8.52 dB

b. 11/2⁵=−9.28 dB

As noted above, the additional number of bits required by a suitablevalue is read when the suitable value is expressed in the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

k being an odd value Although the suitable value b. is closest to thetarget value, the suitable value a. uses only 3 additional bits, whilethe suitable value b. uses 5. It may therefore be desirable to use thesuitable value a. instead of b. According to various embodiments of theinvention, a number of rules are possible to select a combination of anerror between the suitable and target values, and a number of additionalbits required by suitable values. For example:

-   -   two suitable values, above and below the target value can be        selected (in this example, a. and b.);        -   if the number of additional bits required by each suitable            value are both below the difference between the bit depth of            the input digital signal and a conversion accuracy (i.e.,            whatever the suitable value selected, all information from            the input digital signal will be reserved), the suitable            value which is the closest to the target value is selected;        -   otherwise, the suitable value which has the lowest number of            additional bits is selected, in order to preserve as much            information from the input digital signal as possible during            the conversion;    -   a weighted score may be computed for each suitable value, based        on the additional number of bits required by the suitable value,        and the closeness to the target value. The suitable value which        has the highest score is selected.

The suitable value can also be selected as the suitable value that usesa number of additional bits as low a possible within an error rangearound the target value. For example, if a suitable value is to beselected in table for −8.5±0.5 dB, a suitable value may be selected inthe range [−7.5; −9.5 dB]. Three candidate suitable values are foundwithin this range:

a. 13/2⁵=−7.82 dB, which requires 5 additional bits;

b. 12/2⁵=3/2³=−8.52 dB, which requires 3 additional bits;

c. 11/2⁵=−9.28 dB, which requires 5 additional bits.

Thus, the value b., which is the value which requires the lowest numberof additional bits within the error range, is selected.

Another option consists in first selecting the suitable value which isthe closest to the target value, then checking if a nearby value allowsa further reduction of the number of additional bits, and selecting suchvalue if a further reduction of the number of bits is available. Forexample, in the range ]−6 dB; 0 dB] of Table 1:

-   -   if the suitable value 12/2⁴=3/2², which thus requires 2        additional bits, is initially selected, none of the nearby        suitable values 11/2⁴, 13/2⁴, which cannot be simplified and        thus require 4 additional bits, allow a further reduction of the        number of additional bits. Therefore the suitable value 12/2⁴        remains selected;    -   on the contrary, if the suitable value 11/2⁴, which requires 4        additional bits, is initially selected, two nearby values        10/2⁴=5/2₃, and 12/2⁴=3/2² respectively use 3 and 2 additional        bits, and therefore allow using respectively 1 and 2 fewer        additional bits. Therefore, the suitable value 12/2⁴ can be        selected, which remain close to the suitable value 11/2⁴        initially selected, and thus to the target value, while further        reducing the number of additional bits used.        More generally, when a suitable value having the form

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},$

with k being an odd value is initially selected, it can be replaced by anearby value in the set that allows a reduction of the number of bits ofprecision of at least two.

Such solution of reduction of the number of bits by the use of nearbyvalues can also be used iteratively to select a suitable value that usesa number of additional bits as low as possible within an error rangearound a target value. For example, a first candidate suitable value

$\frac{k}{2^{n}}$

can be selected. Then, if k is an even number, the fraction can besimplified up to a fraction

$\frac{k_{1}}{2^{n_{1}}},$

with k₁ odd. The two neighboring values

${\frac{k + 1}{2^{n}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k - 1}{2^{n}}},{{or}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k_{1} - 1}{2^{n_{1}}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k_{1} + 1}{2^{n_{1}}}}$

are selected. Each value that is within the error range is selected as acandidate value. Each of these values has an even numerator, and thuscan be simplified down to a fraction of a lesser power of two.Therefore, each of these values requires a lower number of bit. For eachselected candidate value, the corresponding fraction is simplified to beexpressed as a fraction with an odd numerator. For example, if k=5, n=8,and the neighboring value

$\frac{k + 1}{2^{n}} = {\frac{5 + 1}{2^{8}} = {\frac{6}{2^{8}} = \frac{3}{2^{7}}}}$

is selected, the fraction is simplified to

$\frac{k^{\prime}}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}} = \frac{3}{2^{7}}$

in order to have an odd numerator. Then two new candidates

$\frac{k^{\prime} + 1}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}} = {{\frac{4}{2^{7}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k^{\prime} - 1}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}}} = \frac{2}{2^{7}}}$

are selected, which require at least one fewer additional bits. If atleast one of these values is within the error range, the processcontinues until the best suitable values, that uses the minimum numberof additional bits and is within the error range, is selected.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the device 200 a isconfigured to change the amplitude of the input digital signal S1. To doso, the transform signal comprises a single value, which isrepresentative of a coefficient of amplitude change to be applied to thesignal. Therefore, at the output of the convolution of the input digitalsignal S1 and the transform signal St, the output digital signal hasbeen amplified or attenuated compared to the input digital signal.

If the coefficient of amplitude change is representative of anattenuation, this can be performed without risk of saturating thesignal. On the contrary, if the coefficient of amplitude change isrepresentative of an amplification, there is a risk that the outputdigital signal is saturated. In order to prevent, or at least limit, asaturation of the signal, the processing logic is configured to use amaximum coefficient of saturation, that correspond to a maximum allowedsaturation for a sample of the signal. If the coefficient is equal to 1,the signal shall not be saturated at all, for successive time windows ofthe input digital signal, to:

-   -   determine a maximum absolute value of said input digital signal        on a time window;    -   calculate a maximum coefficient of amplitude change based on        said maximum absolute value and a predefined maximum coefficient        of saturation. For example, if the maximum absolute value of the        input digital signal over the time window corresponds to an        intensity of 0.8, and a maximum coefficient of saturation of 1.2        is selected, the maximum coefficient of amplitude change is        equal to 1.2/0.8=1.5. Therefore, this maximum coefficient of        amplitude change takes into account both the fact that the input        digital signal does not reach the maximum values in the time        window, and that an amount of saturation of 20% is allowed;    -   select the value of said single sample in said set of suitable        values which is representative of a coefficient of amplitude        change below said maximum coefficient of amplitude change which        is the closest to a target coefficient of amplitude change. This        means that, the target coefficient of amplitude change is below        the maximum threshold of amplitude change, the closest suitable        value will be selected. Otherwise, the suitable value        corresponding to an amplitude change just below the maximum will        be selected.        This allows, in the same time, to use a suitable coefficient of        the invention to prevent degradations when converting the        digital output signal, and prevent an excessive saturation of        the output signal.

These examples are provided by means of example only, and any rule thatallow a selection of a suitable value based on a distance with a targetvalue, and an additional number of bits required by the suitable valuecan be used.

The processing logic 220 a can perform the convolution between the inputdigital signal and the transform digital signal, in order to obtain theoutput digital signal, in a number of different ways.

For example, the values of samples of the transform signal St can bestored as integer values, and the processing logic can be configured toperform a full scale conversion of the samples of the input digitalsignal in the output bit depth n₂, and multiply the converted sample byone or more samples of the digital signal representative of thetransform.

It is also possible to store the values of the transform signal asinteger values equal to the value of the suitable coefficientsmultiplied by two raised to a power of the difference between saidoutput bit depth and said input bit depth. Thus, the convolution of theinput digital signal by the transform digital signal can be performed byfirst converting samples of the input digital signal into convertedsamples having the output bit depth, but integer values identical to thevalues of the input digital signal, then multiplying the convertedvalues by the integer values of the transform signal.

The FIG. 2b represents a second example of a device in a number ofembodiments of the invention.

As the device 200 a, the device 200 b comprises a processing logic 210 bconfigured to perform a convolution of a first digital signal S1 and atransform digital signal St in order to obtain an output digital signalS2, to be converted into output analog signal S2′ by a DAC 220 b.

In the example of FIG. 2b , the DAC 220 b is represented inside thedevice 200 b. However, this example is not limitative, and the DAC maybe located in a further device in connection with the device 200 b. TheDAC 220 b may also be replaced by a digital converter that converts thedigital output signal to a further digital output signal.

The device 200 b is in connection with one or more attenuators oramplifiers 230 b, 231 b . . . that are configured to apply a fixed gainto the output analog signal. Similarly to the DAC 220 b, the one or moreattenuators or amplifiers 230 b, 231 b are represented in the device 200b in figure b, but may also be located in a further device in connectionto the device 200 b.

Each amplifier or attenuator is characterized by a fixed gain. Forexample, the attenuator 230 b has a gain G1 to attenuate the outputanalog signal into an attenuated analog signal S2″, and the amplifier231 b is configured has a gain G2 to amplify the output analog signalinto an amplified analog signal S2′″. These examples are not limitative,and one or more amplifiers, one or more attenuators with any possiblegain can be used. As a variant, one or more analog amplifiers orattenuators with a variable gain may be used.

As in the device 200 a, the transform signal St for the device 200 b isformed of suitable coefficients. All embodiments discussed withreference to FIG. 2a are applicable to the device 200 b. In addition,these suitable coefficients can be combined with the fixed gains G1, G2. . . of the one or more amplifiers or attenuators 230 b, 231 b . . . inorder to increase the number of coefficients that can be applied to theinput digital signal S1.

For example, if the transform signal St is formed of a single suitablevalue described in Table 1 to attenuate the input digital signal S1, andthe attenuator 230 b has a gain of −12 dB, the suitable coefficients canbe combined with the coefficient G1. For example, using a suitablecoefficient 1/2⁸=−48.16 dB in combination with the gain G1=−12 dB allowsapplying an overall gain of −60.16 dB.

It is also possible to use an attenuator with fixed or variable gain tolower the number of additional bits required by the suitable values. Forexample, a global attenuation around −20 dB could be obtain either byusing the coefficient 13/2⁷=−19.87 dB, which requires 7 additional bits,or a combination of the coefficient 13/2⁵=−7.87 dB, which requires only5 additional bits addition to the gain G1=−12 dB of the attenuator 230b.

However, it shall be noted that analog attenuators or amplifiers canalso introduce degradations of the output signal. Moreover, theimplementation of a high quality analog amplitude change with variablegain is very costly. In order to mitigate these degradations, fixedgains, or a limited number of variable gains may be used. However, themultiplication of such amplifiers or attenuators may be costly.Therefore, the device 200 b, by combining the suitable coefficients ofthe invention with a limited number of amplifiers or attenuators thathave either a fixed gain, or a limited number of variable gains,provides an efficient solution to transform the input digital signalwith the best possible output quality and a reasonable cost.

The FIG. 2c represents a third example of a device in a number ofembodiments of the invention.

As the device 200 a and 200 b, the device 200 c comprises a processinglogic 210 c configured to perform a convolution of a first digitalsignal S1 and a transform digital signal St in order to obtain an outputdigital signal S2, to be converted into output analog signal S2′ by aDAC 220 c.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the transform digitalsignal St is predefined in order to apply a static filter to the firstdigital signal S1. In other embodiments of the invention, the transformdigital signal St is updated upon the occurrence of events. It is forexample the case if the transform signal St implements a change ofvolume, that is modified upon an input of the user. The transform signalSt can also be modified in real time. It is for example the case foraudio prosthesis applications, wherein the transform signal St is usedto perform noise removal based on a capture of external noise in realtime.

In some cases, the problem of the loss of information during theconversion of the output digital signal S2 applies to the transformdigital signal rather than the input digital signal.

It is for example the case for an audio prosthesis application, in whichthe transform signal St corresponds to a transform for removing ambientnoise, which is updated in real time based on a capture of ambientnoise, while the input digital signal S1 is the useful signal affectedby noise. In this example, it is very important not to lose informationregarding the values of the samples of the transform signal St as thisdefines the noise removal capabilities of the system. In order to do so,the processing logic 210 c is configured 211 c to modify the inputdigital signal S1 in order to obtain a modified input digital signalS1′, which is formed of suitable coefficients. All embodiments discussedwith reference to FIG. 200a can be applied to the modification of inputdigital signal by the processing logic 200 c. More specifically, thevalues of samples of the input digital signal S1 can be viewed as targetvalues, while the modified input digital signal S1′ is formed ofsuitable values, as defined with reference to FIG. 2 a.

The processing logic is further configured 212 c to perform aconvolution of the modified input digital signal S1′ with the transformsignal St. The use of suitable coefficients by the modified digitalsignal thus allows to use a number of additional bits as low as possiblefor the input digital signal, and thus not to lose information from thetransform signal St.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the processing logic 210 cis configured to modify the input digital signal by replacing odd valuesin the input digital signal S1 by even values that can be coded using alesser number of bits. For example, if the input digital signal S1 is anaudio signal having a bit depth of 14, a value of a sample equal to 15719 corresponds to an amplitude of the audio signal 15 719/2¹⁴, whichcannot be simplified. Therefore, this value of the audio sample requires14 bits to be coded. On the contrary, the nearby values 15 718 and 15720respectively correspond to amplitudes of the audio signal equal to 15718/2¹⁴=7859/2¹³ and 15 720/2¹⁴=1965/2¹¹, which respectively require 13and 11 bits to be coded. This means that all significant information forthe value 15720 is located in the 11 most significant bits rather thanin the 14 bits if the input digital signal. Such a value thus naturallylimits the degradation caused by the conversion of the output digitalsignal by a converter having a limited conversion accuracy. Therefore, avalue 15719 in the input digital signal can be replaced by 15720. Thisintroduces a limited distortion of the input digital signal, whilegreatly improving the accuracy of the future conversion of the outputdigital signal.

More generally, each odd value in the input digital signal can bereplaced by its upper or lower neighbor value, which is a multiple of 4.

Such solution of reduction of the number of bits by the use of nearbyvalues can also be used iteratively to select a suitable value that usesa number of additional bits as low as possible within an error rangearound a target value. For example, the initial value is written in theform

$\frac{k}{2^{n}},\frac{15719}{2^{14}}$

in the example above. Then, if k is an even number, the fraction can besimplified up to a fraction

$\frac{k_{1}}{2^{n_{1}}},$

with k₁ odd. The two neighboring values

${\frac{k + 1}{2^{n}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k - 1}{2^{n}}},{{or}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k_{1} - 1}{2^{n_{1}}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k_{1} + 1}{2^{n_{1}}}}$

are selected. In the example above, the values 15 178/2¹⁴ and 15 720/2¹⁴are the neighbouring values. Each value that is within the error rangeis selected as a candidate value. Each of these values has an evennumerator, and thus can be simplified down to a fraction of a lesserpower of two. Therefore, each of these values requires a lower number ofbit. For each selected candidate value, the corresponding fraction issimplified to be expressed as a fraction with an odd numerator. Forexample, if k=15 719 and n=14, and the neighboring value

$\frac{k + 1}{2^{n}} = {\frac{{15719} + 1}{2^{14}} = {\frac{15720}{2^{14}} = \frac{1965}{2^{11}}}}$

is selected, the fraction is simplified to

$\frac{k^{\prime}}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}} = \frac{1965}{2^{11}}$

in order to have an odd numerator. Then two new candidates

$\frac{k^{\prime} + 1}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}} = {{\frac{1966}{2^{11}}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} \frac{k^{\prime} - 1}{{2^{n}}^{\prime}}} = \frac{1964}{2^{11}}}$

are selected, which require at least one fewer additional bits. If atleast one of these values is within the error range, the processcontinues until the best suitable values that uses the minimum number ofadditional bits and is within the error range, is selected.

This example demonstrates that the invention can be used in anyconvolution of digital signal, by using suitable coefficients in one ofthe two signals, to preserve as much information as possible in theother digital signal.

In the example discussed with reference to FIG. 2c , a bit requirementoptimization is applied only on the digital input signal. However, it isalso possible to obtain both the digital input signal by applying a bitrequirement optimization on a target digital input signal, and thetransform signal by applying a bit requirement optimization on a targettransform signal.

FIG. 3 displays an example of a system for managing audio devices in acar in a number of embodiments of the invention.

The system 300 is configured to transform and play an input analog audiosignal 310 using loudspeakers 320 in the interior of a car. In theexample of FIG. 3, four loudspeakers are placed within the interior ofthe car. However this example is not limitative, and a different numberof loudspeakers may be used, for example the interior of the car maycomprise 2 or 6 loudspeakers.

The input analog audio signal 310 is an analog audio signal that can beobtained from a variety of sources, for example an audio tuner, or ananalog input from an external device such as an audio player.

The input analog audio signal is converted to an input digital audiosignal using a ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) 330. The input digitalaudio signal is processed by an audio processor or audio SoC (Signal onChip) 340 to obtain a output digital audio signal for each loudspeaker(four in the example of FIG. 3). Each output digital audio signal isconverted to an output analog audio signal by one of the DACs 350. Eachoutput analog audio signal is amplified by an amplifier 360 to be playedby one of the loudspeakers 320. The system 300 and audio amplifier 360may be powered by a battery 370 of the car.

The audio processor 340 can be configured to perform one or moretransforms to the input digital audio signal. For example, the audioprocessor can perform a modification of the amplitude of the inputdigital audio signal. The audio processor can also be configured toapply a transform to the input digital audio signal, in order to cancela distortion created by the shape of the interior of the car. Indeed,the shape of the interior of the car impacts the propagation of audiosound within the interior. This can create distortions when playing theaudio signal. In order to cancel these distortions, the audio processoris configured to apply a transform to the input digital audio signal toobtain the output digital audio signals. This transform can be obtainedby performing a convolution of the input digital audio signal with atransform signal to apply a FIR filter representative of the transform.

In order to prevent a loss of information from the input digital signalduring analog conversion by the DACs 350 using a limited number of bitsof conversion, the values samples of the transform signal used by theaudio processor 340 are selected among suitable values as defined withreference to the FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c . The values of the samples of thetransform signal can notably be calculated by:

-   -   calculating target values of the samples corresponding to an        ideal filter to cancel the distortion created by the shape of        the car;    -   determining a set of suitable values taking into account the        number of bits of conversion of the DACs 350;    -   selecting the values of the samples of the transform signal        among suitable values based on the target values of the ideal        filter.

The system 300 thus allows an application of a filter whose impulseresponse is similar to the impulse response of the ideal filter, whilepreventing a loss of information from the input digital signal.Therefore, the system 300 improves the audio listening experience of theusers within the car.

FIG. 4 displays a compressor device in a number of embodiments of theinvention.

The compressor 400 uses as input signal an analog stereo signal 410formed from an unbalanced stereo signal 411, a balanced stereo signal412, the balance being controlled by the master balance 413.

The compressor 400 is configured to reduce the volume of loud sound andamplify the volume of quiet sounds in order to reduce the dynamic rangeof the audio signal.

In order to do so, the compressor 400 converts the analog input signal410 into a digital input signal, determines compression gainscorresponding to the different amplitudes of the input digital signal,and applies the compression gains depending on the amplitudes of theinput digital signal to obtain an output digital signal, then convertsthe output signal into output analog signals to be played on theloudspeakers 430, 431.

In order to avoid losses of information from the output signals, andtherefore degradations, the compressor 400 determines, for each gain toapply, a suitable value of the invention that best match the gain, andreduces the number of additional bits used by the compression, accordingto one or more embodiments of the invention discussed above.

This allows using a digital compressor while avoiding as much aspossible issues that may arise when converting back digital outputsignals into analog output signals.

FIG. 5 displays an example of an audio amplifier device in a number ofembodiments of the invention.

The audio amplifier device 500 uses as input a number of audio inputchannels 510.

In addition, the amplifier device 500 comprises an analog audio input511, that is converted using an ADC 520. The analog audio input 511 isan input from a phonograph record. The device 500 comprises a processinglogic to apply a RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)equalization filter on the converted audio input. The RIAA equalizationfilter is a filter that applies a variable gain to different frequenciesof the signal, in order to cancel an equalization filter applied whenrecording phonograph records, to permit greater recording times andimprove sound quality. The RIAA filter can be implemented using aconvolution of a transform signal.

The amplifier device 500 further comprises a processing logic 540configured to apply a number of different filters on the audio signalsuch as a change of volume, a high-pass filter, a crossover, etc. . . .All these filters may also be implemented using a convolution of atransform signal.

In order to avoid losses of information from the output signals, andtherefore degradations, the compressor amplifier device 500 usestransform signals formed of suitable coefficients defined according toone or more embodiments of the invention discussed above.

This allows using all filters of the amplifier device 500 while avoidingas much as possible issues that may arise when converting back digitaloutput signals into analog output signals.

FIG. 6 displays an example of a high-fidelity processor in a number ofembodiments of the invention.

The high-fidelity processor 600 has three analog audio inputs 610, 612,613, and 6 analog audio outputs 620, 622, 623, 624, 625 and 626. Howeverthis number is not limitative, and different numbers of analoginputs/outputs may be used. Although examples will be provided for thefirst input 610, and the first output 620, the description below isrespectively applicable to all inputs and all outputs of thehigh-fidelity processor 600.

The analog audio input 610 is converted into a digital audio input by anADC 611. Then a first processing logic 630 is configured to process thedigital audio input by successively applying a gain 631, a delay 632, anequalization 633 and a dynamic equalization 634. The high fidelityprocessor 600 is configured 640 to connect every audio input to everyaudio output. A second processing logic is configured to process thedigital audio output by successively selecting a digital audio input651, applying a gain 652, performing crossover 653, an equalization 654,a dynamic equalization 655, applying a limiter 656, i.e a filter toprogressively limit the amplitude of the signal when the gain of thesignal is above a threshold, modify 657 the phase of the output, andapplying a further delay 658. The output digital signal is thenconverted by a DAC 621 into an analog output signal, in order to beplayed by the loudspeaker 620.

As noted above, the applications of the gains 631 and 652 on a digitalsignal can, depending on the coefficients of gain which are used, causedistortions during the digital to analog conversion by the DAC 621. Inorder to prevent such distortion, the high fidelity processor isconfigured to use the suitable values of the invention to apply thegains 631 and 652.

This allows the high fidelity processor 600 to perform its operations onthe digital signals without creating distortion during the conversion ofthe output digital signals into output analog signals.

FIG. 7 displays an example of a mixer in a number of embodiments of theinvention.

The mixer 700 has a number of analog audio inputs 710 to be convertedinto digital audio inputs using ADCs. Such a mixer is for example usedwhen recording audio tracks. The audio inputs correspond to a number ofmicrophones that capture sounds, or synthesizer that produce sound, andthe mixer combines audio inputs into a number of audio channels to berecorder. FIG. 7 displays the operations on a single input channel, anda single output channel. However such operations can be performed oneach input and output channel. In order to mix input channels intooutput channels, the mixer 700 performs a number of operations 730 onthe input digital signals, and a number of operations 740 on outputdigital signals. These operations comprise for example a fader 741, acompressor 731, 742, mix send controls 732, 743 defining the gain toapply to input signal to be send to mix, a balance control 744 thatapplies inverse gains on a left and right channels, and a pan control733 that defines of position of a channel in the audio scene by applyingvariable gains in the outputs, an attenuator 734, a high pass filter735, parametric equalizations 736, 745.

The digital output signals thus created are converted into analog outputsignals using DACs.

In order to prevent losses of information, and degradations during thedigital to analog conversion, the mixer 700 is configured to use thesuitable values of the invention to one or more for the operationsdescribed above.

This allows the mixer 700 to perform its operations on the digitalsignals without creating distortion during the conversion of the outputdigital signals into output analog signals.

The FIG. 8 displays a method to perform a convolution of two digitalsignals in a number of embodiments of the invention.

The method 800 is a method of convolution of an input digital signal S1with and a digital signal representative of a transform St to obtain anoutput digital signal S2. The method 800 is remarkable in that one ofsaid input digital signal and digital signal representative of atransform comprises one or more samples whose values belong to adiscrete set of suitable values, wherein:

-   -   said discrete set of suitable values is defined at least by a        decreasing function defining a number of bits as a function of        the absolute values of said suitable values;    -   each suitable value is equal to a division of a first integer        number by two raised to the power of a second integer number,        said second integer number being equal to or below a ceiling of        the application of the decreasing function to the absolute value        of said suitable value.

Similarly to the devices of the FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c , the use of suitablevalues of the invention for one of the two digital signals allowspreserving the information from the second one within the mostsignificant bits of the output digital signal S2, and therefore preventa loss of information an degradation upon a conversion of the outputdigital signal S2.

The FIG. 9 displays a method of creation of a first digital signal to beconvolved with a second digital signal according to the invention.

The method 900 is a method of creation of a first digital signal. Thefirst digital signal is to be convolved with a second digital signal. Inorder to prevent a loss of information from the second digital signalupon convolution to obtain an output digital signal, and conversion ofthe output digital signal, the method 900 comprises:

-   -   obtaining (910) target values of samples the first digital        signal;    -   for each target value of a sample, selecting (920) a suitable        value belonging to a set of suitable values, wherein:    -   said discrete set of suitable values is defined at least by a        decreasing function defining a number of bits as a function of        the absolute values of said suitable values;    -   each suitable value is equal to a division of a first integer        number by two raised to the power of a second integer number,        said second integer number being equal to or below a ceiling of        the application of the decreasing function to the absolute value        of said suitable value;    -   setting (930) the value of the sample to the suitable value.

This allows the first digital signal to be as close as possible to atarget digital signal, while being formed of suitable values to preventa loss of information from the second digital signal when performing theconvolution, then conversion of the output digital signal.

FIGS. 10a, 10b and 10c display respectively the frequency response of aprior art lowpass filter whose coefficients are quantized using 16 bits,the frequency response of a lowpass filter of the invention, and theimpulse response of a lowpass filter of the invention.

The curve 1000 a represents the frequency response of a 200 Hz low passfilter of the prior art quantized using 16 bits, as a power depending onthe frequency. The curve 1000 b represents the frequency response of acorresponding low pass filter of the invention, that is to say a lowpass filter whose coefficients have been replaced by suitablecoefficients of an invention. The curve 1000 c represents an impulseresponse of the same low pass filter of the invention, as an amplitudeas function of time.

It can be seen 1010 b that, at high frequencies, the frequency responseis modified. However this impacts only frequencies that are affected bya very strong attenuation, and the overall functionality of the filteris not affected. It can also be seen 1010 c in the impulse response thatcertain values have been modified to match only the set of suitablevalues.

FIGS. 11a, 11b and 11c display respectively the frequency responses of aprior art RIAA filter whose coefficients are quantized using 16 bits,the frequency response of a RIAA filter of the invention, and theimpulse response of a RIAA filter of the invention.

The curve 1100 a represents the frequency response of a RIAA filter ofthe prior art quantized using 16 bits, as a power depending on thefrequency. The curve 1100 b represents the frequency response of acorresponding RIAA filter of the invention, that is to say a RIAA filterwhose coefficients have been replaced by suitable coefficients of aninvention. The curve 1100 c represents an impulse response of the sameRIAA filter of the invention, as an amplitude as function of time.

In this example, different numbers of bits of precision have been used,in the filter of the invention, for different samples. Morespecifically, a higher number of bits of precision have been used forthe samples that have a steep variation from one sample to another. Itcan thus be seen 1110 c that, when the variation between successivesamples decreases, the number of bits of precision used to represent thesamples is also reduced, in order to prevent losses of information.

Thus, more precision is provided in the first part of the impulseresponse. This ensures that the overall shape of the frequency response1100 b is preserved, while using a number of additional bits ofprecision as low as possible for each sample.

These examples demonstrate that the invention does not significantlyimpact the performance of filters, while greatly reducing the loss ofinformation from the input digital signal upon conversion of the outputdigital signal using a limited number of bits.

In a number of embodiments of the invention, the transform is anoversampling of the input digital signal, sometimes termed anupsampling. Oversampling can be used before a Digital to AnalogConversion, by converting the input digital signal to a samplingfrequency significantly higher than the original sampling rate. In suchapplications, the transform can be performed by a convolution of theinput digital signal and a transform signal representative of theoversampling, that is to say by applying to the input digital signal aFIR filter defining the oversampling. A number of different oversamplingFIR filter exist. For example, the oversampling FIR filter can be amoving average filter.

As explained above, a DAC to which the oversampled signal is submittedto has a limited input bit depth. Therefore, some information from theinput digital signal may be lost during digital to analog conversion.More specifically, the oversampled samples comprise information from alarge number of different samples from the input digital signal (forexample, if the oversampling is performed using a moving average filter,the oversampled signal may comprise information from all input samplesof the moving average). An excessive loss of information may causedistortion that reduces the quality of the oversampled signal at theoutput of the digital to analog conversion.

In order to solve this issue, the disclosure applies to oversampling, byapplying a bit requirement optimization of one of the input digitalsignal, and the transform signal defining the oversampling. As explainedabove, the application of the bit requirement optimization to thetransform signal (for example a transform signal whose sample correspondto the coefficients of an oversampling FIR filter) allows preserving asmuch information as possible from the input digital signal, and thusimproves the quality of the resulting oversampled signal. Meanwhile, theapplication of the bit requirement optimization to the input digitalsignal advantageously allows obtaining a more precise oversampling.

As noted above, in the framework of the invention, the bit requirementoptimization comprises the definition of a value of a sample of said atleast one of said input digital signal and said digital signalrepresentative of a transform as a division of a first integer number bytwo raised to the power of a second integer number. In the examplesprovided above, the bit requirement optimization comprises theapplication of a decreasing function of the values of the targetsamples.

However, the bit requirement optimization may use other functions todefine the second integer number. For example, the second integer may becomprised between a minimum value and a maximum value, and/or be equalto the application of an increasing function of the absolute differencebetween the target sample and the expression of the target sample as afirst integer divided by two raised to the power of the minimum value.That is to say, the higher the degradation caused by a reduction of thenumber of bits used to define the sample, the higher the number of bitsused. As an advantage, this allows achieving a reduction of the numberof bits needed for performing a convolution of signal, while limitingthe error introduced by the bit requirement optimization. Such bitrequirement optimization may be applied to a target signal which is aninput digital signal as well as a transform digital signal.

For example, the bit requirement optimization may be defined such that:

-   -   the target digital signal (for example, the input digital        signal, or a transform digital signal representing the        coefficients of a FIR filter) is coded using a number C of bits.        The samples of the target digital signal are noted h(i), and are        thus equal to

${{h(i)} = \frac{k{h(i)}}{2^{C}}},$

wherein kh(i) is an integer number;

-   -   a minimum number of bits K to code the signal at the output of        the bit requirement optimization is defined, so that 1<K<C. Each        sample of the digital signal thus has a converted counterpart        k(i) corresponding to the sample expressed on C bits, thus        expressed as:

${{k(i)} = \frac{k{k(i)}}{2^{K}}},$

wherein kk(i) is an integer number;

-   -   for some values, we have h(i)=k(i). For some other values, the        converted counterpart k(i) may be slightly different from h(i);    -   a relative difference v(i) is calculated for each sample,        corresponding to the absolute difference of the distortion        introduced by the conversion from C to K bits divided by the        value h(i) of the sample: v(i)=0 if h(i)=0;        v(i)=|(h(i)−k(i))|/h(i) otherwise.

The relative difference v(i) is thus representative of a ratio betweenthe distortion introduced by the conversion of the samples from C to Kbits divided by the values of the samples: the higher v(i) is, thehigher is the relative degradation introduced by the conversion of thebit depth for a sample. In a number of embodiments of the invention, thesecond integer (i.e the bit depth used for a sample at the output of thebit requirement optimization) is an increasing function of v(i): thehigher the relative degradation introduced by sample conversion, thehigher the number of bits of information used to reduce the loss ofinformation of the sample.

For example, the second integer number n may be comprised between K andK+D, where D is a integer>1 with 0≤D≤C−K. A rule of definition of n maybe used:

${{{if}\mspace{14mu} {v(i)}} < \frac{1}{2^{C - K}}},{{n = K};}$${{{else}\mspace{14mu} {if}\mspace{14mu} \frac{1}{2^{C - K}}} \leq {v(i)} < \frac{1}{2^{C - K - 1}}},{{n = {K + 1}};}$${{{else}\mspace{14mu} {if}\mspace{14mu} \frac{1}{2^{C - K - 1}}} \leq {v(i)} < \frac{1}{2^{C - K - 2}}},{{n = {K + 2}};}$…  ;${{{else}\mspace{14mu} {if}\mspace{14mu} \frac{1}{2^{C - K - {({D - 2})}}}} \leq {v(i)} < \frac{1}{2^{C - K - {({D - 1})}}}},{{n = {K + ( {D - 1} )}};}$${{{else}\mspace{14mu} {if}\mspace{14mu} \frac{1}{2^{C - K - {{({D - 1})}1}}}} \leq {v(i)}},{n = {K + {D.}}}$

Thus, the second integer n is calculated between K and K+D, in order tohave a value that reduces the relative degradation generated by the bitrequirement optimization.

The FIGS. 12a, 12b and 12c respectively represent the impulse responsesof a low pass filter using 8-bit coefficients, 16-bit coefficients, and8 to 16 bits coefficients using a bit requirement optimization accordingto the invention.

The impulse response 1200 a is the impulse response of a low-pass filterusing 8-bits coefficients. As shown by FIG. 12a , the impulse responseis very imprecise. The impulse response 1200 b is a impulse response ofthe same low-pass filter using 16-bit coefficients. This impulseresponse is much more precise but, as explained above, a convolutionwith a FIR filter having 16 bits, greatly increases the bit depth of theconvoluted signal; if the convoluted signal is converted using a limitedbit depth afterwards, there will be an important degradation of quality.

The impulse response 1200 c is a impulse response of the same low-passfilter using the bit requirement optimization described above, whereinthe second integer n corresponding to the bit depth of each coefficientis calculated as a growing function of v(i) for each coefficient. Theresulting impulse response 1200 c is much more precise than the impulseresponse 1200 a. This demonstrates the ability of the bit requirementoptimization of the invention to retain an important quantity ofinformation from the target signal, while reducing the number of bitsneeded at the output of a convolution with the optimized signal.

It is also possible to replace the value v(i) by a valuew(i)=|h(i)−k(i)|/2^((C−K)). The value of the second integer n is thencalculated in the same way as explained before, using w(i) instead ofv(i). Therefore, the number of bits used to code a sample is chosen inorder to reduce the absolute degradation caused by the conversion.

The examples described above are given as non limitative illustrationsof embodiments of the invention. They do not in any way limit the scopeof the invention which is defined by the following claims. Furthermore,any non-exclusive embodiments or examples discussed above may becombined. For example, although FIGS. 2a and 2b discloses devices inwhich the values of the transform signal are selected among suitablevalues/obtained by a bit requirement optimization, and FIG. 2c disclosesa device in which the values of the input digital signal are selectedamong suitable values/obtained by a bit requirement optimization, in anumber of embodiments of the invention, both the values of the inputdigital signal, and the transform signal may be selected among suitablevalues/obtained by a bit requirement optimization, in order to obtain ajoint optimization.

1. A digital circuitry configured to perform a convolution of an inputdigital signal and a digital signal representative of a transform toobtain an output digital signal, at least one of said input digitalsignal and said digital signal representative of a transform comprisingone or more samples obtained by a bit requirement optimization of atarget digital signal.
 2. The digital circuitry of claim 1, wherein thetransform is an oversampling of the input digital signal.
 3. The digitalcircuitry of claim 1, wherein said bit requirement optimizationcomprises the definition of a value a sample of said at least one ofsaid input digital signal and said digital signal representative of atransform as a division of a first integer number by two raised to thepower of a second integer number.
 4. The digital circuitry of claim 3,wherein said second integer number is equal to or below a ceiling of theapplication of a decreasing function defining a number of bits to theabsolute value of a target sample of the target digital signal.
 5. Thedigital circuitry of claim 4, wherein said decreasing function defines anumber of bits equal of below a maximum number of bits.
 6. The digitalcircuitry of claim 4, wherein the decreasing function is a number ofbits of precision minus a binary logarithm of the absolute value of saidabsolute value of the target sample of the target digital signal.
 7. Thedigital circuitry of claim 6, wherein the number of bits of precision isdefined according to a target precision of the transform.
 8. The digitalcircuitry of claim 7, wherein the value of the bit requirementoptimization comprises the selection of the value of the sample among aset of suitable values based on the target value of the target sample.9. The digital circuitry of claim 8, wherein the number of bits ofprecision is equal to a ceiling of a binary logarithm of a target numberof suitable values in a range having the form [½^(N+1); ½^(N)].
 10. Thedigital circuitry of claim 9, wherein the number of suitable values in arange having the form [½^(N+1); ½^(N)] is equal to 6 divided by anaverage target step between two suitable values, in dB.
 11. The digitalcircuitry of claim 8, wherein the set of suitable values is furtherdefined by a maximum suitable value, and comprises: two raised to thepower of the number of bits of precision values, respectively equal to:a first integer value from 1 to two raised to the power of the number ofbits of precision divided by two raised to the power of the maximumnumber of bits; for each range in a plurality of ranges defined by asecond integer value comprised between a binary logarithm of saidmaximum suitable value and the maximum number of bits minus one: tworaised to the power of the number of bits of precision minus one values,respectively equal to: a first integer value from one plus two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision minus one to two raised tothe power of the number of bits of precision divided by two raised tothe power of the second integer value.
 12. The digital circuitry ofclaim 3, wherein said second integer number is comprised between aminimum number and a maximum number and is equal to an increasingfunction of the absolute value of a difference between the conversion ofthe sample to a representation using the minimum number of bits.
 13. Thedigital circuitry of claim 12, wherein said second integer number iscomprised between a minimum number and a maximum number and is equal toan increasing function of the absolute value of a difference between theconversion of the sample to a representation using the minimum number ofbits divided by the value of the sample.
 14. The digital circuitry ofclaim 1, wherein the input digital signal has an input bit depth, andsaid output digital signal has an output bit depth, higher than or equalto the input bit depth.
 15. The digital circuitry of claim 14, whereinthe values of samples of the digital signal representative of thetransform are integer values, said digital circuitry being configured toperform a full scale conversion of a sample of the input digital signalinto a converted sample of an intermediate signal having the output bitdepth, and multiply the converted sample by one or more samples of thedigital signal representative of the transform.
 16. The digitalcircuitry of claim 15, wherein the values of samples of the digitalsignal representative of the transform are integer values equal tosuitable values having the input bit depth and belonging to a predefinedset of suitable values multiplied by two raised to a power of thedifference between said output bit depth and said input bit depth, saiddigital circuitry being configured to perform a conversion of a sampleof the input digital signal into a converted sample having the outputbit depth, and multiply the converted sample by values of the samples ofthe digital signal representative of the transform.
 17. A devicecomprising: the digital circuitry of claim 14; a connection to adigital-to-analog converter, said digital-to-analog converter beingconfigured to convert said output digital signal to a digital outputdigital signal to an output analog signal using a conversion accuracycomprised between said input bit depth and said output bit depth. 18.The device of claim 17, further comprising a connection to one or moreattenuators or amplifiers to apply an amplitude change to the outputanalog signal using a fixed gain or a variable gain with a finite numberof possible values.
 19. A method of convolution of an input digitalsignal and a digital signal representative of a transform to obtain anoutput digital signal, at least one of said input digital signal andsaid digital signal representative of a transform comprising one or moresamples obtained by a bit requirement optimization of a target digitalsignal.
 20. A computer program product comprising computer codeinstructions stored on a non-transitory computer storage medium, whereinwhen the computer instructions are executed by one or more processors,configured the one or more processors to perform a convolution of aninput digital signal and a digital signal representative of a transformto obtain an output digital signal, at least one of said input digitalsignal and said digital signal representative of a transform comprisingone or more samples obtained by a bit requirement optimization of atarget digital signal.
 21. A method of creation of a first digitalsignal to be convolved with a second digital signal, comprising a bitrequirement optimization of a target digital signal.